


At least there weren't clashing patterns

by Snakesareprettycooltbh



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Alois/Claude but like it ends more for the people who have it as a notp, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, College AU, Friends to Lovers, Lau just seems like he'd make an entertaining teacher, M/M, Mentions of abuse in various forms, Mostly focused on Ciel/Lau, Other, Probably gets better in later chapters because I'm getting practice, Slow Burn, Student Ciel, Teacher lau, Will try to have the teacher student thing be as unproblematic as possible, aged up Ciel, aro ace character (later in plot), they/them pronouns for grell to avoid discourse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-08-22 22:23:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 57,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8303395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snakesareprettycooltbh/pseuds/Snakesareprettycooltbh
Summary: That college au we all needed where Lau is that teacher who no one knows why or how he's a teacher, Ciel is rattled by everything, Soma is a pal, Lizzy has some self discovery, Alois is problematic but still deserves happiness, and Grell is as dramatic as ever.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So here I continue my journey in learning to write. Thank you to all the super great people who gave my last fic kudos and an extra big thank you to my beta, who's a huge help. Still going strong with the Ciel/lau ship, hope you guys are feeling it too. Anyways, I'll be updating this one regularly, hopefully weekly, so stay tuned!
> 
> Edit: This work has some things that people might find triggering. There are mentions of abuse and recreational drug use in various parts. It's mostly just mentioned or hinted at, nothing graphic, however I fully understand that even that might bother some people. I'll say in the notes if it'll be a big theme in the chapter, but if you're worried please let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to accommodate your needs. These things are hard, and I want to make it easier for you as a reader.

There were lots of things to be happy about today. The weather was great, everyone around was cheerful, the gardens around campus were in full bloom. However, Ciel wasn't enjoying any of this. Instead, Ciel was worried. After all, it was his first day at Funtom University. So much could go wrong. What if his classes were terrible? What if his teachers were terrible? What if none of his friends were in his classes? What if he had to sit beside someone more irritating than his friends? He paused. The prospect of meeting people even more annoying than them was mildly horrifying.

It wasn't that he didn't love his friends dearly, it was just that they could be so... frustrating? Infuriating? Difficult? A handful? How 'bout all of the above. As if on cue, he heard several shrieks behind him and seconds later was jumped on from behind, and pulled into a hug by his two best friends.

"Ciiieell, we missed you so much-"

"Isn't this exciting?! Our first day of university! Oh Ciel, everything's going to be so fun, and everyone looks simply adorable-"

"Ciel aren't you glad to see us? This year will be so great, we'll do everything together-"

Lizzy and Soma continued to talk over each other as Ciel attempted to struggle out of their grip. On the bright side, he no longer had to worry about finding his friends.

His cousin was looking at perfect as she always did, golden hair perfectly curled in pigtails, and wearing a pink blazer she had bought when shopping with Ciel and had described as "simply adorable". Ciel himself thought it was alright, but was overall uninterested in fashion and what might be deemed cute. Instead of putting an effort into what he wore, he simply let his older brother Sebastian choose out his outfit. After all, the man had impeccable taste. Today, he wore a navy jumper over a collared shirt, paired with freshly ironed black trousers. It was what Lizzy referred to as "the preppy look". Ciel simply referred to it as "a jumper and shirt".

His other friend and main annoyance, Soma, wore a vivid purple hoodie that matched his hair, which was currently tied half up. He had mastered the look of "casual yet cute", as Lizzy might say. Lizzy always had something to say about their respective styles. 

Whatever Soma's look was, it seemed to appeal to the girls. He got lots of interest until they spent time with him and realized how annoying he could be. So far, Ciel's friend had been unlucky in the relationship department. 

When Ciel had first met Soma he had felt the same way, that the enthusiastic guy was the most annoying person he'd ever met. However, with time the kid grew on him, and despite what Ciel might say, he was quite fond of him. 

And so, here Ciel was. Reunited with two ridiculously annoying people that somehow by some bizarre circumstance he had come to consider his friends.

"Yes, yes, it's all very exciting. Now let's go, shall we? I hardly want to create a reputation for myself and the family name by being late to class on our first day" he grumbled.

"Don't be so grouchy Ciel, it isn't cute at all. I'll have to tell Sebastian you're being terribly antisocial." As Ciel rolled his eyes, the blonde continued "What courses do you guys have? We should see if we have any classes together."

After comparing timetables, they figured out they all had Economics and Mathematics together in twenty minutes. They wandered around campus for at least ten of those twenty, until they stopped and asked a group of other students for directions. Two of the students looked their age while one looked older.

"Auditorium B6 eh? Yeah I know where that is, had a class there myself last year. In fact I'm just showing these friends of mine there, it's their first year too. C'mon, follow me" the oldest one said. As they all walked after him, the man continued talking. "My names Baldroy, these two are old friends of mine, Finny and Mey Rin" he said, pointing to each. "Hey, do you guys have plans for lunch?"

Ciel, Lizzy, and Soma looked at each other and shrugged. "Not really, why do you ask?" Ciel finally responded in as bored a tone as he could muster. These people didn't seem terrible, and it was nice of them to help him, but he had friends, it wasn't as if he needed more.

The younger boy, Finny, spoke up excitedly. "Hey, if you don't have plans you could eat with us! That would be great wouldn't it? We could all be friends!"

"So whaddaya think?" The older one added.

Before ciel could say anything, Lizzy jumped in. "Oh that sounds so lovely, thank you for inviting us! We'll be sure to come, should we just meet up with Mey Rin and Finny at the end of class?"

Baldroy agreed to the plan as Ciel glared daggers at his friend. Before he could grumble out loud about it though, they arrived at the building their first class was in. 

"Well, I guess I'll be off. I'll see y'all at lunch then" Baldroy said with a shrug, and then wandered off.

The three of them followed Mey Rin and Finny into the auditorium and took their seats together. Lizzy pulled out a glittery pink binder for notes, which put Ciel and Soma's plain black binders to shame.

"Lizzy, do you own anything that isn't pink?" Ciel asked

"Of course not? Really Ciel, how could you even ask such a thing" she gasped in mock shock.

A loud slam of a door was heard, and the class whipped their heads to the doorways. A tall stiff man that looked as though he was perpetually tired of his students, his colleagues, and his friends, walked in. Ciel could relate to his first teacher immediately.

"Class, my name is Mr. Spears." He spoke in a monotone voice, pausing to write the name on the whiteboard at the front of the auditorium. "I am your teacher for this semester. I won't welcome you to this class or this school, because by the end of this week, at least half of you will have dropped out. Your success in this first week and the whole term all depends on you. Have you got what it takes? Perhaps some of you will. However, I sincerely doubt it."

Ciel looked at his friends. Soma looked utterly terrified, whilst Lizzy frantically scribbled notes. As Mr. Spears droned on, Ciel thought to himself that this would be a long class.

***

The three friends met up with Finny and Mey Rin at the doorway, who were waving them over enthusiastically. Ciel wondered why everyone he spent time with was so cheerful all the time. It wasn't that he wanted them to be bitter about everything but still, not everything's sunshine and rainbows.

Together they exchanged thoughts on their first class. 

"I've never had a more terrifying teacher in my life. Ciel, he's scarier than your brother!" Soma had known Sebastian for years but he hadn't gotten over his fear of the man. This may have been because of that time Sebastian straight up roasted him in the early stages of his and Ciel's friendship. The guy could be scary when he wanted to be.

Lizzy shrugged. "He seems a bit intimidating but I really think he'll be a good teacher. Maybe he can be like, my mentor or something." Lizzy was obsessed with finding a mentor in university.

Finny and Mey Rin seemed to feel the same way as Soma, enthusiastically nodding to his comments as they led the way to wherever they were meeting Baldroy.

"What about you, Ciel? What do you think of Mr. Spears?" Lizzy asked

"I hardly find him terrifying, honestly you guys. He's just a teacher. It'll take a lot more than that to rattle me" Ciel said loftily. "Where are you taking us anyways?"

Finny started. "Us? Oh there's this coffee shop just a little bit off campus, Baldroy swears it's better than the caf food...although now that I think about it, that may have something to do with the pretty waitress he has his eye on. Anyways he said he'd meet us there."

At this point the group had reached the edge of the campus. They crossed the street, and followed their two new friends into a café which was, according to the sign out front, called the Noah's Arc Café and Coffee Shop. After their eyes adjusted to the gloom of the place, they found Baldroy sitting on a stool at the long table against the wall. 

When he caught sight of them his face lit up. "Oi! Finny! Mey Rin! How was class? Who's your teacher? Tell me everything guys!"

As they all say down along the table, Finny and Mey Rin took turns filling their older friend in, not omitting any details whatsoever.

"We have this guy, Mr. Spears. He's so scary bard, I think he hates us all and we've only had one class! He said he's going to fail most of us, I can't fail this course! And when I dropped my pencil case, I swear it barely made any noise but he stared right at me and the look he gave me-"

Baldroy interrupted his monologue. "Finny, calm down. Here, I'll give you some advice."

They learned that Bard had been taught by Mr. Spears two years ago, and the main thing to be careful of being late. "There's nothing" he added "that the man hates more than tardiness."

Once there was a lull in the conversation, Ciel spoke up. "So are we planning on getting food sometime? I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving."

Everyone unanimously agreed that ordering lunch was a good idea so they went up to the counter. Ciel ordered an egg salad sandwich, a double shot esspresso and a slice of chocolate cake. He never went a day without caffeine and cake. As his friends ordered, he wandered back to his seat. Soon the rest joined him except for Baldroy. When they looked back towards to counter they saw him leaning on the counter and winking at the dark haired girl who took their orders, who seemed uninterested as far as Ciel could tell from the scowl on her face. Eventually he appeared to give up, and walked back to where they were sitting.

Moments later, their food was brought by a boy with bleached sections in his black hair. As he left, he seemed to glare at Baldroy.

They continued to talk over their lunches. Soma enthusiastically recommended the curry chicken he was currently stuffing his face with. Ciel had given up trying to fix his table manners and contented himself with looking at his friend in disgust. 

Lizzy looked forward to seeing what everyone was wearing. Soma hoped he and Ciel would make lots of friends. Ciel hoped his friends would stop forcing him to socialize. Baldroy hoped that there would be some good parties they could go to. Ciel hoped in equal part that there wouldn't be. Finny and Mey Rin nodded at regular intervals but were too busy eating to add anything to the conversation.

As lunch neared its end, they all looked at their schedules to see what they had next. Ciel had his next class with Lizzy, but none of his other friends. He was relieved that at least he wasn't completely alone. 

The two of them said their farewells to Soma and their new friends, and headed off to their next class: Advertising and marketing. As they entered the large classroom it was in, the first thing they noticed was the colour scheme. The entire room was painted a garish shade of red, complete with crimson curtains framing the whiteboard. That, at least, was white.

Ciel wrinkled his nose in distaste at the tacky decor. After a quick glance to his side, he saw Lizzy doing the same. 

"Are the teachers even allowed to decorate their rooms this much?" Lizzy wondered. 

"If so, they should have rules that only the ones with good taste can do it" Ciel answered.

Seconds after the class had settled in their seats, the door burst open, and in walked the most flamboyant, and the most...well...red person Ciel had ever laid eyes upon.

The person, who appeared to be their teacher against all odds, flounced to the front of the room.

"Welcome, welcome, all that jazz. Enough about you brats, now about me. I'm sure you're just dying to know all about me of course!" they began in falsetto. "Well let's see. Your timetable probably calls me Professor Sutcliff or some other dreadful thing like that, but I simply won't accept that. No, I think you can all call me...Grell. Or perhaps Ms. Sutcliff. Or if I like you, you could call me baby" they said, winking at the class. Out of the corner of his eye, Ciel saw Lizzy stare with horror. She had probably never seen a person like this in her life. As a matter of fact, neither had Ciel.

As the class continued, Ciel took in the full quantity of red that his teacher was wearing. Their hair was dyed red, their trench coat was red, their boots were red, their lipstick was red-it was all red.

The class continued and the other students seemed to be recovering from the shock of Sutcliff's grand entrance. Ciel had had doubts, but as it turned out their advertising and marketing teacher seemed to know what they were doing, maybe even was quite smart. And really, that was all that mattered to Ciel. 

When they were dismissed, everyone wandered out of the auditorium. They blinked in the bright sunlight after having spent so much time in the red tinted gloom. Ciel looked at his schedule to see that he had one more class that day, a philosophy credit. After questioning Lizzy, he found out he didn't share this class with her, so he headed off in the direction of building D3.

Ciel was relieved to see the classroom was a normal one, with no odd colour schemes or decor. He settled down into his seat and began to pull his notebook out of his bag when someone sat in the seat beside him.

Well, sat wasn't quite the word. The boy sort of flung himself into the chair, leaned back, and popped his bubble gum bubble. Loudly. Ciel felt himself cringing, not only at the noise but at the other boy's outfit. He wore the shortest shorts Ciel had ever seen, on a boy or a girl. He also wore knee high boots, and a purple tank top that left little to the imagination. Ciel had never in a million years expected half the people he met today to be anywhere, much less at a pretentious school of business. 

The boy turned to him and jerked his head to acknowledge Ciel's presence. He then began to speak abruptly, as if they had known each other all their lives. "What teachers have you had today? I've had Ms. Annafellows, and Ms. Sutcliff. They both seem simply unbearable, I don't know how I'll stand being in their presence for a whole year. Why couldn't I get any attractive professors?" He sighed and gazed off into space. Ciel wasn't sure what he should respond with, but thankfully he was saved from having to, as at that moment their teacher entered.

In his previous two classes, the teachers had entered in a fairly dramatic fashion. He had been bracing himself for a repeat of this, but instead their philosophy teacher slipped into the room, and wandered over to the centre of the class. He proceeded to lean on the whiteboard.

"For god's sake, aren't there any normal teachers here?" Ciel muttered to himself. He couldn't help but hear the boy beside beside him excitedly whisper "Finally! An attractive one!"

The man slouching against the whiteboard might be described as attractive, with his dark hair and elegant, defined features, but the fact that he was wearing brightly patterned jogging pants took away from the effect. At least his t shirt was plain black. Ciel wasn't sure he could handle clashing patterns today.

Beginning in a soft lilting tone, the man said "Some teachers might expect you to call them Mr. or Mrs. something or other, but I think that's rather silly, don't you? No, I think you can call me Lau. And I'll call you by name in return. So, welcome to my philosophy class. For today's work, I want you to think about this: what is reality?"

And with that the man went to his desk at the front of the room, slid into the chair behind his desk, put his feet up, and pulled out his phone. Everyone else in the room seemed uncertain of what to do. Ciel was rattled. His other teachers, no matter how strange, had talked about the year's outline and even had begun to teach. However it was very apparent that those opening words were all this Lau guy planned on doing for the whole class. 

As more and more time passed Ciel got increasingly irritated. This was a waste of time! If he wanted vaguely philosophical questions he could have just looked it up online, not taken a course! He wasn't able to actually think of an answer to Lau's question, so he settled with internally ranting and glaring at the teacher. By the time the bell rang, they had learned a total of zero things, and Ciel was fuming. As he walked out of the class he got a text from Lizzy saying to meet her in the Noah's Arc Café. When he arrived, he saw his friends sitting with Finny, Mey Rin, and Baldroy.

"Oh hey Ciel!" Lizzy said, waving him over. "I had last class with Mey Rin and she said we should all hang out here after class! Wasn't that sweet of her?"

"Yes, very. Ugh I hope your class went better than mine, I have the most awful teacher. Have you heard of that Lau guy? He doesn't do anything, he doesn't teach, and he dresses like a complete idiot. If he doesn't improve for the rest of the year I swear to god-"

Bard interrupted his monologue. "Oi, you have Lau? Nice, man. That was such an easy class last year he's so chill. Honestly, the guy doesn't even act like a teacher, he used to have the best parties at his house, which is on campus - super convenient. And by best I mean he brought special brownies once, if you know what I mean. Man, that was great..." He gazed off into space, remembering.

If looks could kill, Baldroy would have been dead from the look Ciel was giving him. However he barely seemed to notice the look, and instead headed outside to light a cigarette. 

The rest of them shared first day stories, and as they laughed together at Finny's story about how he accidentally broke his chair pushing it in too hard, Ciel thought that maybe his friends weren't that annoying. After all, they were better than Lau.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://www.zumiez.com/elwood-island-floral-sublimated-skinny-jogger-pants.html - these are the pants Lau is described as wearing


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ciel remains bitter about shopping and philosophy teachers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who's reading, leaving kudos, and helping me write. You're all great, and woo I'm on time for a weekly chapter update.

The first week of school passed mostly without incident. Ciel spent his time going to classes, keeping up with his workload, and hanging out with his friends at the Noah's Arc Café. He had begun to recognize the staff there, although he hadn't learned their names yet.

There was the dark haired girl that Baldroy seemed to have an interest in. There was the boy with the bleached hair who, from what Ciel had gathered, was in love with the dark haired girl. Sometimes the manager, a man with red hair and a prosthetic arm, came in to check on things. There was also a younger girl named Molly, who had short brown hair and a face full of freckles. She didn't work at the café but often came by to visit her friends who did. Ciel knew the most about her because she always came over to talk to him and his friends, despite his hints that she didn't need to. He learned that she went to the community college nearby, and was getting a degree in musical theatre. This didn't surprise Ciel, given her confidence and flair for dramatics.

Really, the only thing about the week that wasn't going well was his philosophy class. His blonde classmate, whose name apparently was Alois, continued to be an annoyance. He refused to switch seats, and continuously commented on every mundane thing that happened for the whole hour and a half of the class. Not to mention how his whining voice reminded Ciel of nails on a chalkboard.

This would have been bearable if he felt the class was worth something, and that he was learning, but frankly he wasn't. There had been two other classes of philosophy since his first day, but he still hasn't learned a thing. In one, Lau had asked them to think about whether it is worse to fail at something or to never try at all. In another, he asked them to think about what true happiness is. He didn't seem to care whether the class actually did as asked though, since after giving his instructions at the start of class he always followed with his routine of sitting in his chair and using his phone. He never even asked if any of them had an answer at the end of class. God knows what he was marking them on.

Ciel began to have a routine of his own in that class. He'd ponder the question for five minutes. Then, getting bored and irritated, he'd daydream. They were usually centered around being anywhere other than where he was. Antarctica sounded nice, he was beginning to think. After twenty more minutes, he ran out of imagination for daydreams, and proceeded to watch the fly in the room as it moved from desk to desk. He was making diagrams of its movements, to see if it had a pattern. All this was done while he put great effort into ignoring Alois's prattle. 

From what got past his mental defences, Alois seemed to talk about three things: How terrible his teachers were, how hot some guy that he may or may not be dating was, and the latest horror movie he had watched. Since none of these topics particularly interested Ciel, he mostly focused on the fly. Maybe he could name it. Fred, perhaps? 

Now though, the first week was over and he was determined to block the class out of his mind. Instead, he could focus on quietly doing his schoolwork in his dorm room, listening to music, and making some of that lovely new tea he had bought.

However, as it turned out, peace and quiet would not be what he got. Saturday morning arrived, and with it came a loud knocking on his door.

"Ciel, open up!" yelled Lizzy.

On several occasions Ciel had ignored this kind of thing from Lizzy. However, it had never ended well. Some of the past results included her yelling at him, forcing him to let her choose his outfit to make up for it, her telling Aleister that he reciprocated the mans affections (what a nightmare that had been), and most terrifyingly, when she broke into the room and threatened him with her fencing swords. Ciel had seen her fence, and when she had those swords, she was a force to be reckoned with. Long story short, Ciel had learned not to ignore his friend.

Groaning, he dragged himself out from under his covers, pulled on his dressing gown, and stumbled to the door.

Once the door was unlocked, Lizzy tumbled into the room. "Ciel, I've just seen the cutest clothing store, you need to come shopping with me! We could get coordinating outfits, it would be so adorable! Who knows when there might be a party or a double date where we'll need to look cute together? C'mon Ciel, get dressed! Let's go, let's go!"

Because of their closeness, and their occasional coordinating outfits, often people thought Ciel and Lizzy were an item, but in truth they were just good friends. Ciel had known he preferred guys ever since he kissed Charlie Gibbons in S3 while playing spin the bottle at Lizzy's birthday party. Lizzy herself seemed interested only in fashion and fencing and pursuing her career of running a clothing store that perfectly suited her aesthetics. This left no time for dating. Besides, she was just too close with Ciel to want to kiss him or any other...stuff...like that anyways.

"Ugh, fine. Give me a minute to get dressed. Why are you even awake this early, and finding new shopping locations already?" Ciel questioned.

"Don't be silly, it's never too early for shopping. Hurry up, sleepyhead! I'll be in the hall." she said as she flounced out of the cramped dorm room.

Ciel quickly changed into a button up shirt and jeans. Being the weekend he could afford to be more casual without risking his reputation. Not that he really had one yet anyways, but still. Dressing badly wouldn't help him get one, or a good one at least. At the last minute, he ran a comb through his dark hair, brushed his teeth, and went out to meet Lizzy. She was in the hallway as promised, chatting to a pretty brown haired girl. Ciel didn't recognize her new friend.

Lizzy waved him over. "Ciel, this is Paula. Paula, this is Ciel. If he's rude, you can just ignore him."

"Hey!" Ciel protested. "I can be nice?"

"Are you sure? That sounded kind of like a question."

Paula interrupted. "It's really nice to meet you Ciel. I have to go, but I'll see you guys around?"

"Of course! See you around!" Lizzy said with a bright smile, before pulling Ciel to the elevator. It was the slowest elevator Ciel had ever had the misfortune to experience, and he was jealous of every single person who had a room on the first floor. Next time, he'd remember to take the stairs.

After a long descent, they emerged from the building and into the sunlight. It was one of the last days of summer, the kind that everyone treasures more than the rest of the season, because of their knowledge of the coming cold. Around the campus, students could be seen lounging around on benches, soaking up the sun while doing homework in the grass, playing football with their friends, and overall savouring their last chance to wear their cool summer wardrobe.

Ciel was too tired to think coherently, but he enjoyed listening to his friend talk as she led him to the store she was so smitten with.

"So I was decorating my room right, and I had already bought so many cute things, like that cat toy in a banana that we got from some store downtown, you know the adorable one? And this pretty pink lamp, it has floral print which is simply gorgeous, and the fairy lights, and of course those movie posters, and the lovely wooden bookcase I bought. The one with the rosy finish, you remember right? Anyways I was setting it all up and it was looking wonderful I'll add, when Finny and Mey Rin came by. Ciel, it was a disaster! If anything I need this shopping trip to recover my spirits. They're so sweet and I really do like them, don't get me wrong, but I've never seen two more destructive people! Hmm, do you think some sort of class would help them? Maybe dance would make them more graceful... what do you think?"

"What? Dance? Oh, yeah sure I suppose it might. Whatever you think is best, Lizzy." Ciel responded absentmindedly.

The street was lined with shops of all sorts, ranging from clothing stores to bakeries to gift shops. Every time they passed something cute in a window Lizzy would point it out enthusiastically. After another five minutes of walking and admiring everything on Lizzy's part, she stopped suddenly and pointed to a store called Hopkins clothing and accessories.

"Here it is! Come on, Ciel, there are so many things I want to show you!"

Ciel followed her through the door, dreading the hour to come.

***

The two friends emerged from the store not an hour, but three hours later. Ciel had gotten increasingly bitter the hungrier he got, until eventually Lizzy was persuaded to leave with only eight new outfits for herself and three for Ciel. 

"Can we please get something to eat already? Lizzy I'm starving. I didn't even get breakfast, and that's the most important meal of the day."

"Honestly Ciel, you only ever care about food. Can't you appreciate art? Like that blue dress I got? Fine, I guess I can't change you. There's a restaurant across the street, we can get something there. Maybe then you'll stop being so grumpy." She said affectionately. 

In higher spirits, Ciel walked across the street to the restaurant, called Piper's diner. The inside was brightly lit, with big windows. The seating options were either blue plastic booths or the counter where you could watch the waitress make milkshakes. In the corner, there was even a jukebox, completing the atmosphere. They found a booth to sit at, and began to look at the menu.

"Oh Ciel you were right, getting food was a good idea. This is the nicest place! We should tell our friends about it. Hmm, what should I get? I feel like I have to get one of the milkshakes, they look so pretty..." She trailed off, gesturing to a couple at another booth who had ordered matching chocolate milkshakes, topped with whipped cream and sprinkles.

Ciel nodded as he read through the menu. He was trying to decide whether to order the cheeseburger with a salad or with chips when he heard a familiar voice.

"Where do you want to sit, Ran Mao? It's nice to sit at the counter but I'm feeling more in the mood for a booth today. How about that one over there?" 

Ciel didn't look over to avoid drawing attention to himself, so he could only guess where the man he considered his nemesis had sat. Moments later, to his dismay, he realized that Lau and the person with him had sat in the booth directly behind him. Apparently he'd have to listen to him talk all throughout his lunch. How repulsive.

Lizzy looked at him quizzically."Ciel, what's wrong? You look more disgusted than usual." 

Ciel leaned across the table, whispering angrily. "It's him! It's my philosophy teacher! God, I get enough of him in the classroom, now he has to ruin my weekends?! Does the nightmare never end?!"

"Are you sure he isn't just having his lunch? He hasn't even noticed you Ciel." She pointed out.

"Why are you taking his side?!"

"Why are there sides here?"

"Because he's terrible!"

"He's just a bad teacher, calm down."

They continued to bicker until they both realized that Lau had gotten up from his booth, walked over to theirs, and sat down.

"Hey, guys. Did I hear that I'm your teacher? Let me see if I remember you. Was it-"

"it's-"

"No, no, let me guess!" Lau cut him off. "Hmm, was it Quiell? Nebo? Obloha? Still not getting it? Let's see, how about Ceo? Cel? Taivas? Maybe... Cielo? Oh I know, it's Sky, isn't it!"

"For gods sake, it's Ciel! It's right on your attendance list! Do I need to spell it out for you?!"

"Hey, hey, no need for hostility, sky boy. I've got a lot of students, I've only learned the A names."

"As if. You probably haven't bothered to learn any."

"You wound me! What have I ever done to you?"

"What have you done to me? You want a list?! Fine, you don't teach anything when I paid to learn, you don't make any effort, you're lazy, you're always on your phone texting in class, your "projects", if they can even be called that, are complete bullshit, you don't learn any of your students names, according to some students you have parties with them where recreational drugs are available, which is completely unprofessional, and worst of all. Worst. Of. All. Are those goddamn pants trackies you wear to class that aren't fit for polite society!" Ciel paused, out of breath. Lizzy watched all this play out with mild amusement. Lau let out a low whistle.

"Well let's see. First of all, I don't make any effort but neither do you, so you can hardly talk, sky boy-"

"Stop calling me that!"

"I mean, pretty sure you were watching a fly for at least half of last class. You could have tried a bit harder to find an answer for me."

"Wait, why were you watching me closely enough to know I was watching Fred?"

Lau smirked. "Nice choice of name. Very... classic. Shows a lack of imagination, maybe that's why you get so little out of my class-"

"Hey!"

Lau ignored the interruption. "Anyhow, what you get out of my class is entirely up to you, don't go blaming me for your shortcomings. I'll have you know, I was the star pupil in my own philosophy class. Maybe you just can't keep up, huh?"

Ciel rolled his eyes as the man continued. "I'm not lazy, I'm at level 82 of candy crush. Which is what I'm doing in class, not texting by the way."

Ciel groaned. "Not any better, but go ahead and continue if you must." 

"My projects are, as you say bullshit, but hey, it's also the first week of school. I'm starting small. Let's see, what else was there? Oh, the names. You want proof? In your class there's Abraham Rohld, Alexa Robbins, Andy Katz, Alois Trancy, Angela Wood, Ash Billings-" Ciel cut Lau off again.

"Fine, fine, you know the A names. I get it."

Ignoring him, Lau kept going. "Yes, I do have parties, all those points are valid, and you're welcome to come to one tomorrow. If you do have friends that talk about them, they can give you directions. Also before you interrupt again, let me finish with this. I like the trackies."

And with that, he stood up and left. Before Ciel could figure out what had happened, Lau and his friend had left the restaurant, and the waitress had arrived to take their orders. Having not yet decided between the salad or the chips, he ended up ordering his cheeseburger with neither, and then immediately regretting it. Lizzy got the milkshake she had been eyeing, along with a chef salad. 

Lizzy had been stifling her laughter at the whole scene that had played out. She loved Ciel dearly, but he was so funny to watch when he was mad. Besides, this teacher of his seemed to give as good as he got, with comebacks at every turn. Right then and there, she decided she liked this dynamic and would try and have the two together as much as possible.

"Hey Ciel, you know what would be fun? If we went to that party he invited us to!" She started.

"What? No! Why would we do that?"

"Because it might be fun?"

"Ok Lizzy, first of all, it would not be fun. Secondly, he didn't really invite us, he just said we could come. Thirdly, it would not be fun."

"You already said that."

"I'm emphasizing, Lizzy!"

"Please Ciel? I could wear my new dress... c'mon Ciel... please..."

Ciel groaned again. "Fine. We'll go, if only so you'll stop that. But if we get arrested for whatever the hell goes on at his parties, it's on you."

Lizzy instantly cheered up. "Yay! I'll text Bard now for the directions! It's gonna be so much fun!" She squeaked, bouncing in her seat. 

For the third time that day, Ciel groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate names used by Lau are just sky in a variety of languages.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ciel gets a date, and some other side plots are introduced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Third chapter, and early too! Kudos and comments are always appreciated, because despite writing a rare pair fic I'm desperate for attention and appreciation. Anyways thanks to everyone who's helped and supported me, love you all.

Ciel had been dreading this moment for twenty four hours. He was dreading it when Lau "invited" him to his party. He was dreading it when Lizzy insisted they go. He was dreading it when he begrudgingly texted Baldroy for the address. He was dreading it when Baldroy answered. He was dreading it when Lizzy chose their outfits: a pale pink mini skirt and scoop neck top for her, a white t shirt for him, which she insisted on him wearing slightly off the shoulder. He was dreading it as he fell asleep, and continued to dread it as he woke up, got out of bed and made his breakfast. As he did his assignments, he dreaded it. As he got ready, he dreaded it. When Lizzy and Soma showed up with Baldroy and co, he was dreading it. And now, as they stood outside Lau's door, ready to knock, he was dreading it more than ever.

Baldroy spoke up. "Dude, are you gonna knock anytime soon?" 

Ciel fidgeted. "Lizzy, we can still go home. Hey, we could go shopping? Wouldn't that be more fun?"

Rolling her eyes, Lizzy adjusted his shirt, and then affectionately pushed him away from the door to knock herself. "No...I can shop any day. We're staying here. Stop pouting about it."

There was a pause before the door opened, during which Ciel looked over the house. It was on the campus for reasons that apparently no one could explain. It was reasonably large but run down, with chipping white paint and cardboard covering one of the second story windows. Who knew what circumstances caused it's break. It looked like the type of place a stereotypical fraternity that he had seen on tv would live in. This might seem like an odd place for a fully grown, adult teacher to live in, but it was Lau, so from what Ciel knew of the man he remained unsurprised.

Moments later, the door was opened by a boy with slightly spiked red hair. "You friends of Lau's?" He asked. Before they could answer, he continued. "I guess it doesn't really matter, just come in. The more the merrier."

With one last pleading look at his friends, Ciel allowed himself to be dragged through the doorway. Inside, it was crowded but not over-crowded. As he followed Lizzy around, he took in everything while allowing some of his attention to be focused on Lizzy's observations, such as "Oh, I do love her shoes!" or "Ciel, doesn't he have the nicest hair?".

After five minutes of walking around, he figured out several things. The first was that there was a pool table in the middle of Lau's living room. The second was that the man had a hell of a snack table, ranging from chips to nuts to brownies and related deserts. There was also a selection of drinks, such as punch and soda as well as the generic beer and liquor. Ciel would never admit he was impressed by the selection, but, well... he was impressed by the selection. However, he made sure to carefully inspect everything he ate, much to Lizzy's amusement. Soma ignored his advice to do the same, and filled his arms with everything in sight. 

The third thing he observed was that the music was odd, and yet not completely terrible. What a shock. It sounded vaguely like swing music, but more contemporary. He had never heard anything like it, but already he found it was growing on him.

The next thing he noticed was the range of ages in attendance. There were people his age, up to those who seemed more like Lau's age. The weirdest part was seeing other professors of his there, such as Sutcliff, Professor Spears (who looked as though he would rather be anywhere else-once again Ciel could relate), and both Professor Grey and Professor Phipps. It was like seeing a fish out of water. Or a teacher out of class, if you're less inclined towards similes. 

However, the one thing he didn't notice in his rounds of the house was the host himself. Lau remained no where to be found. Ciel wasn't entirely disappointed at this.

It seemed like the evening might not actually be that bad. That was, until he heard an insufferable, bratty, high pitched, whining voice behind him. "Well, fancy seeing you here, Ciel."

Ciel made no effort to mask his disdain as he turned towards Alois. Tonight, he was wearing distressed shorts with a purple crop top and his signature boots. He was accompanied by an older guy with black hair and glasses. Similarly to Ciel and Professor Spears, he looked as though he wanted to be elsewhere. However unlike Ciel, he seemed to tolerate the blonde, who was hanging off his arm.

"Why are you here, Alois?" Ciel finally said.

"My Claude is just so popular he got invited, isn't he great?" he said, gesturing to the man with him. "Oh, I guess you two haven't been introduced. Claude, this is Ciel. He isn't really important. Ciel, this is Claude, and he's very important. Aren't you?" He added, looking up at Claude with a giggle. Claude simply responded with a dry, "Whatever you say." 

Ciel kept trying to get away from them, but they seemed to follow him every time he excused himself from the conversation. Alois went from talking about how great Claude was, to talking about how great they were together. He used choice lines such as "He's the peanut butter to my jelly," and "we're like Romeo and Juliet, except like not dead." 

Once he had tired that subject out completely, he went to making subtle hints about how Ciel could never get anyone as good as Claude, saying "He's such a catch, but it's only natural he was my catch. I mean, have you looked at me? Who wouldn't want me. If only everyone could be so lucky..." with a pointed look at Ciel, and possessively clinging onto his boyfriends arm. Said boyfriend seemed fairly oblivious to the conversation, glancing around the room,and occasionally at Ciel.

"-and not only is he ridiculously smart and hot, he is so good in bed. Just the other day-"

That was it. That was the final straw. "Love to hear about it sometime, but gotta go, bathroom emergency!" Ciel choked out before making his escape out of the room. To avoid being found, he headed up the stairs. Ok, so maybe it wasn't the politest thing to do, after all he was in someone else's house. However, he figured the risk of being caught by those two was worse than the risk of being rude to Lau anyways. His teacher didn't exactly seem like the type to be easily offended. If he knew Alois, he'd probably be sympathetic. Not that Ciel cared what Lau thought of him.

He hung around the hallway for a few minutes, fidgeting and trying to figure out what to do next. Lizzy had disappeared during his conversation with Alois and he wasn't about to go downstairs again to find her.

However, the horrors weren't over yet for Ciel. Just as he had begun to relax, he heard footsteps on the stairs, and a familiar voice to accompany them. "Bloody hell, it's Alois!" Ciel thought in a panic. Seeing no other alternative, he ducked in the nearest room and closed the door behind him.

Turning around, he solved one of the night's mysteries. Lau was sitting on a bed, playing chess with a nervous looking brown haired boy, who appeared to be Ciel's age. A Chinese girl who looked a little younger than Lau watched the match with mild interest.

As the brown haired boy considered his next move, Lau spoke with a lilt to his voice. "But what I'm really getting at is, it's not uncommon for people to name insects after people that are very close to them-" 

He suddenly noticed Ciel. "Oh, it's you. Hey Arthur, this is that guy I was talking about. You know, Sky?"

Ciel glowered. "As I've said before, it's Ciel. Starts with a C. Still working on the A names, huh."

"Hey hey hey, no need for rudeness. This is my house, after all. You're a guest."

He was right, actually. "Yeah... sorry. Look, I wouldn't have interrupted your game if it wasn't an emergency. This guy I know kept talking to me and I couldn't get rid of him, so I ran upstairs right? But then he starts coming up the stairs too! I just happened to duck in here, I'll leave as soon as he's gone- wait what do you mean by 'that guy I was talking about'?! What were you saying?!"

"Oh, nothing much. Just that we could all benefit if you weren't always so angry. Also, I might have mentioned that you have a nice ass."

Ciel and Arthur both choked. "Wait, you never said anything like that!" Arthur exclaimed. 

"Oh, maybe I didn't. Well, it's out there now." Lau said, shrugging.

Ciel quickly schooled his expression from shock to disinterest. "Well, if you're going to let me hide out here, I suppose we might as well talk. How do you know Arthur, and who's the girl? She's the one that was with you yesterday, right?"

"Who's Arthur?"

"He is, you colossal idiot." Ciel said, pointing at the man in question, who looked slightly offended.

Lau shrugged again. "Oh, right. Hmm, how do I know him? No clue."

Arthur interrupted. "We met today, actually. We were talking about an article we both enjoyed about chess, and then we decided to play a match. And here we are, I guess."

As Arthur talked, Ciel walked over to the bed and sat down. When he had finished talking, Lau leaned over and whispered "I didn't actually read the article, I've just been nodding at the right times."

Ciel snickered. Arthur seemed nice, but he also seemed very, well, gullible. A moment later, he remembered his second question. 

"Oh yeah, who's the girl?"

Lau looked up from the game. "Her?" He asked, pointing to his friend.

"Who else could I possibly mean?" Ciel answered sarcastically.

"Oh, that's Ran Mao. She's my sister." He paused. "Although technically we aren't related."

Ciel would have continued pursuing the subject if Arthur hadn't interrupted, with a quiet "check mate." in the background.

Lau didn't appear to care, smiling benignly as he cleared off the board. Ciel spoke up again. "This is your party, why are you hiding out upstairs?"

"This is a party you chose to go to, why are you hiding out upstairs, Ciel?"

Beginning to relax, Ciel flopped down on the bed. "Honestly, I didn't really choose to come, Lizzy dragged me here. I haven't a clue why."

Arthur joined in the conversation, asking who Lizzy was. In the background, Ran Mao seemed to be playing with the chess pieces. She seemed rather odd, but no one else commented on it, so Ciel let it go.

Ciel told them both about Lizzy and his friendship with her. Arthur thought she seemed sweet. Lau added "Yes, I think we'd all love to meet this friend of yours. From what I know of her, she seems strong, courageous, and kind. I just have one question for you; who are we talking about again?"

Ciel rolled his eyes. "Why do you even bother talking if you don't know what you're saying?" 

"I'd get bored if I wasn't talking."

"No one else would."

Arthur interrupted. "Hey, we don't have to fight, guys. What about another round of chess?"

"How 'bout a match, whaddaya say Ciel?" Lau asked.

"Pfft, as if. You'd be too easy a win to bother." Ciel answered arrogantly.

Lau suddenly sat up straighter, even opening his eyes slightly. Ciel took note of their colour (a light brown) and then wondered why he'd take note of a thing like that. Looking at him intently, Lau spoke.

"You think you can win that easily, huh? Willing to put any money on that?"

Ciel thought for a second, and then decided he had nothing better to do. 

"Fine. How much?"

"Fifteen pounds."

"Fine. Get ready to lose it."

"Overconfidence is never smart, Ciel."

"Neither is betting money on a game you can't win. Also, glad you know my name, was that hard?"

While they bickered, Arthur had already set up the board for the game.

***

As the game began upstairs, Alois and Claude were leaving the party. There had begun to be a chill in the air, a sure sign of the coming autumn. Alois shivered, and voiced his discomfort to the older man. 

Claude shot him a look. "Don't expect me to be sympathetic. You're the one that chose that outrageous outfit."

"You weren't complaining the first time I wore it with you."

"And now I am. You look ridiculous."

Alois huffed. "Well, I like it. You can't tell me what to wear anyways."

Claude rolled his eyes, and continued to walk in silence. Alois frantically thought of ways to keep the conversation going. "Some party, huh?"

Claude made a sound of disinterest. Alois tried again. "What do you think of my friend, Ciel? He's ok, isn't he?"

"He seems like he wouldn't keep trying to talk to me when I want silence." Claude answered with a pointed look. 

They walked the rest of the way in silence, although the street around them was loud with the sound of traffic and groups of friends laughing together.

They finally reached Claude's apartment, where he unlocked the door and let them both in. The interior of the apartment was neat and tidy, except for the couch on the left wall. The couch had a blanket and a pillow tossed haphazardly over it. There was also a duffel bag, left unzipped with various articles of clothing hanging out of it. This was Alois's home. 

Claude headed to the kitchen, where he made him a grilled cheese. After changing into pyjamas, Alois sat down at the table, and looked at Claude, who was now putting the food on a plate, with adoration. 

"You know you're everything to me, right? You're all I have, Claude." He said softly from the table.

Claude's tone was bored. "I know I am. Now eat your food, I'm going to bed."

***

"Stop it! You can't just use chess pieces as projectiles when you lose!" Arthur yelled.

Ciel glared daggers at Lau, who smiled calmly back. Apparently his ire wasn't enough to phase Lau.

"So, my 15 quid?"

Ciel coughed. "Well...I don't actually have my money with me right now, I'll get it later I suppose..."

Lau considered for a moment. "Hmm, no problem with that. Bring it at the end of class on Tuesday, sound good?"

Ciel glowered for a moment, before nodding his assent. "Fine, but I want a rematch."

"Wednesday at six?"

"Fine. I think the menace is probably gone and I can get out of your hair. Thanks for letting me hide out." Ciel said, getting up. As Lau cheerfully answered "Anything for a friend." Arthur jumped up. 

"Hey, I could go with you to find them? I'm done here anyways."

Ciel shrugged. "I suppose I can't stop you."

As the pair headed downstairs, Lau could be overheard telling Ran Mao the benefits of an all soup diet. It was hard to tell how she felt about the subject.

Wandering downstairs, Ciel and Arthur couldn't find Lizzy or any of the others. Fortunately they couldn't find Alois either. They did however, find a guy leaning across the counter, speaking to Professor Spears more informally than Ciel could imagine the man had ever been talked to in his life.

"So, like, what I'm getting at here is this. Remember that lady friend I had at the bank? Well, I flirted with her all the time right? Same as Grell does with you? And she always acted all hostile an' shit, but then it turns out she liked me all along! Crazy, right? Anyways what trying to say-" he paused to hiccup, and then run a hand through his messy hair. "-is that that wasn't all that unlike you and Grell's relationship. Like, maybe you don't hate them, man. Ever consider that?"

Mr. Spears looked like he'd eaten a lemon. "I don't know what you're trying to insinuate, Knox, but just because we've been friends a long time does not mean you'll get away with insinuating whatever you're trying to... insinuate."

His friend shrugged, and popped open a can of beer. At that, Ciel and Arthur left the room. You can only hear so much about your teacher's possible love life and stomach it.

Ciel checked his phone. "Right, well I guess I'm walking back alone. They aren't answering any of their texts, sooo..."

"Wait, I could walk with you!" Arthur stopped himself, blushing. "I mean, that is, if you want to..."

Ciel thought for a moment, and decided that having someone to walk with wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen. "Sure, I guess. Come along then."

It was only a five minute walk back to the dorms, but they had good conversation. Arthur, sweet as he was, frequently asked Ciel questions, interested in getting to know him. Ciel's answers were as short as he could make them. However, by the time they got to his building, he had told Arthur that he had an older brother, and no parents. At this, his new friend expressed his condolences. In return, he learned that Arthur had a younger brother and nine other siblings, was interested in medicine, and was writing a book.

Ciel's curiosity was peaked. "What's the book about?"

"Well, nothing really, it's not very good." He stuttered.

Ciel smiled at him. "I'm sure it is. I'd love to read it sometime. Anyways, this is my building, see you around."

Arthur looked nervous before exclaiming. "Wait!"

Ciel turned around. "What?"

He fumbled with his sleeves, and then looking away from Ciel spoke quickly. "I, well, I guess, I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to go see a movie or something?" He blushed.

Ciel smirked. "Sure, doesn't sound too terrible. Pick me up at six this Friday. Also? You're paying."

And with that he turned, and slipped inside before Arthur could formulate a response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Music I was describing was inspired by caravan palace. Try listening to midnight or lone digger. Also, quid is apparently British slang for money, and trackies is slang for track pants. The more you know.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lizzy has some scene time, and Ciel gets really wet. Because of the rain, that is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for those who are wondering where this is going, my general plan is to have it take place over the course of a school year (September to May), and mainly follow Ciel's pov with bits of Alois's and Lizzy's. Also I know things have started out a bit slow, things will get moving faster as we go.

"We thought you had left! What were we supposed to do? No one could find you." Lizzy exclaimed.

Ciel glared. "Right. Sorry. Still, I was just upstairs, you could have tried a bit harder, but fine." 

Soma flung his arms around Ciel. "Aww, you must have missed us. We're sorry Ciel."

Shoving his friend off him, Ciel protested. It wasn't as if he missed them, it was just a few hours! He was just annoyed that they left without telling him, that's all.

After getting home from the party, Ciel had wandered to his room, flopped down on his bed, and fallen asleep. Monday morning had come, and with it several texts from his friends to meet them at the Noah's Arc Café for lunch. He had considered ignoring them, but ended up going for the opportunity to be bitter. After all, Phantomhives don't get left behind. Unfortunately his friends didn't respond well to bitterness, and Ciel decided to give up.

As the waiter with the bleached hair brought their coffees, Ciel asked the two how their nights had been. Lizzy spoke first.

"Oh, it was great. Me and Mey Rin had such a great time, we really bonded. Did you know she does archery? Apparently her distance vision is incredible, that's so interesting, right! I'm going to take her shopping on Wednesday, it'll be so fun..."

Ciel, half asleep, responded without thinking. "Oh that's good, that's when I'll be out with Lau."

Lizzy and Soma looked at him. This time Soma started, quizzically asking "Wait, don't you hate that guy?"

"Yes, well, er..."

Lizzy added her piece. "And didn't you say that you'd rather do anything other than spend time with him?"

"Ok, first of all, I never said I don't hate him, and second of all I have a chess rematch to play! Perfectly innocent! Get off my back!" Ciel exclaimed, getting irritated.

"Well someone's getting defensive."

"Ooh, maybe he has a crush!"

"Soma, I don't have a crush, I have a chess rematch to play. Don't confuse the two."

"That's just what someone with a crush would say!"

This would have continued for the next hour if it weren't for Molly pulling up a chair and telling them all about her upcoming audition for "Annie, get your gun". They all turned their full attention to her, and as it was, Ciel didn't get a chance to tell them about his plans with Arthur till they were leaving for their next class. Fortunately for Ciel, this gave them limited reaction and interrogation time.

***

Soma was hanging out on Ciel's bed, swinging his legs off the side. Ciel ignored him as he got his bag ready for his afternoon philosophy class. He resented the fact that Soma had no class right now, and made no effort to hide it.

He also resented the bet he had to pay back today. He focused his energy on glaring at the pound notes in his hand. 

"Hey, what did the money ever do to you? You're looking at it like it murdered your family-" Soma caught himself, and winced. "I mean, not like that. Hey, I'm sorry..."

Ciel shrugged, stuffing the money in his pocket. "It's fine, don't worry about it. I've got to go, want to walk with me?"

Soma nodded enthusiastically, leaping to his feet. When they got to the hall, he asked why they weren't taking the elevator.

"Because" Ciel answered, "I love myself too much for that."

Soma raised his eyebrows, but let it go. It was like when he asked why Ciel avoided affection like the plague and got "Because it's as disgusting as the plague. Like, as bad as rotting corpses and disease." in response. Sometimes there wasn't anywhere you could really go with a conversation like that.

After a brief and pleasant, if not slightly chilly, walk through campus, they got to Ciel's building. Soma gave him a hug and wished him luck. Ciel grunted in response, untangled himself from his friend, and headed in to class.

Moments after Ciel had sat down, Lau made his usual entrance. 

"So class, I've gotten some complaints about how much I'm teaching. As a result, I have a treat for you." He smirked at Ciel. "This class, I have two questions. First, to what extent do you shape your own destiny, and how much is down to fate? Second, why do people fear losing things that they do not even have yet? If anyone comes up with an answer, you know what to do." And with that, he did what he always did: went to his desk, leaned back, and pulled out his phone. However this time, he sent a shit eating grin in Ciel's direction first. Ciel stuck his tongue out at him, only making him grin wider.

After five minutes of thinking and another five of watching the fly-now officially dubbed Fred, Ciel checked that the money was still in his pocket and then walked down to Lau's desk.

"Here's the money, you better be ready for me to win it back."

"Such confidence, I wonder, will you ever learn?" He said airily.

Ciel crossed his arms. "Not that I don't want to continue this conversation, but what's the answer to today's question anyways?"

Lau shrugged. "No idea, actually. I just saw it on an article online. Anyways, you should go back to your seat, people might think we're in love."

"Fine. But I'm not making any more effort for your stupid questions, I'm working on my other classwork." With that, he walked off, scowling. 

Before starting his work though, he made another change to his routine. He put in his new headphones. Nothing, not even Alois, could get past them. 

***

"Getting ready for your date, Ciel?" Soma asked, smiling brightly.

Ciel glared. "I'm not even going to dignify that with response. Right, gotta go, see you later tonight ok?"

As Ciel left his room to meet with Lau for that rematch, Soma called out, saying not to stay out too late. Ciel had to wonder why his friends paid this much attention to something completely innocent, and were ignoring the fact that he had an actual date in two days. "Oh well, what can you do" he thought to himself as he dashed down the stairs.

Outside it was raining. Not just a light pitter patter, but full on pouring too. Within seconds Ciel was soaked, but there was no way he'd go back for an umbrella. Umbrellas are for the weak, he reminded himself. 

By the time he had gotten to Lau's house, which was close enough that he hadn't bothered to catch a bus, he felt on the verge of drowning. The rain was so heavy he practically drank some with every breath. He was starting to reconsider his thoughts about umbrellas.

After knocking, the door was opened by Lau's not-sister, Ran Mao. She looked at him as he walked in, and then disappeared for a moment. When she came back, she had a hoodie with her. She gave it to Ciel, only saying "Wet." in response to his questioning look.

"Hey, do you know where Lau is?" Ciel asked as he pulled off his wet t shirt and pulled on the hoodie. 

Just as he asked this, Lau stuck his head in the doorway. "You rang?"

Ciel jumped. "Ugh, yes. You ready to lose?"

"As I'll ever be. Come in, I've got it all set up."

Ciel headed to the room his professor was in the doorway of. Surprisingly enough, it was quite a nice room. There was a good wooden desk, a maroon rug, and a selection of art that seemed vaguely Chinese, even to Ciel's untrained eye. He took a moment to admire the tasteful decor before sitting down on one side of the chess board. 

A second later, Lau sat down on the other side, and they began the rematch.

Unlike their first game, this time Lau didn't stay silent and concentrated. Instead, he wouldn't shut up. It was all "Hey Ciel, what do you think of snails?" and "What are your thoughts on Candy Corn?" and "I just read the most fascinating book on cannibalism." and "Would Aldous Huxley's Brave New World be better as a play, a mini series, or a movie?"

When Ciel had few strong opinions on the first three subjects, Lau didn't seem to care. However when Ciel commented that he hadn't read Brave New World, moments after putting him in check mate, Lau wouldn't let it go.

"How could you? It's one of the greatest pieces of literature, you heathen!" He exclaimed in mock offence.

Ciel shrugged. "I don't know, never had the chance I guess. Also, you know I won right?"

Lau seemed unimpressed. For some reason this irked Ciel. He had almost been hoping that he'd be shocked or pleased at the fact that Ciel could actually be very good at the game. "Oh, did you? Well that's a twist."

"Yes" Ciel crossed his arms. "I did. So you gonna pay up?" he asked briskly.

"Only if you read Brave New World."

Ciel looked at him incredulously. "Man, we had a bet! I'm not buying some book, pay up!"

"Here, I'll lend it to you. And I'll pay up if you take the book." Lau answered.

Ciel rolled his eyes, but agreed to take the book. He couldn't really think of a reason not to. As he left the house and headed back to his dorm with the book under his coat to keep it dry, he realized that with each interaction he had with the man, the less irritated with him he got. Maybe he was growing on him.

***

Lizzy was not enjoying this. She was not enjoying it at all. And that just made it worse, because she couldn't think of a single reason why she wouldn't be enjoying it. 

She and her friends had been sharing stories about high school, and it had gotten to stories about dating. That was fine, she had dated here and there, she could talk about that.

But then it got to talking about their feelings when dating and all of the sudden she couldn't relate. Mey Rin had cried and eaten ice cream for weeks after Irene had broken up with her. When one of Lizzy's high school boyfriends dumped her, she had gone to math class. Baldroy had ached over a girl for two years. Lizzy had ached for two years when some kid beat her in a fencing match. Finny had felt like Angela was the only girl in the world for him. Lizzy had felt like the miss Dior perfume was the only perfume in the world for her. 

She could relate in these ways, but she couldn't imagine feeling any of those things for a person. But still, she was young, right? There was time, right? Sometimes it took a long time to find the one. That's what everyone always said. That's what she'd told herself for years, every time she thought someone seemed ok and thought maybe she could grow to fall for them, but didn't. But now it seemed like everyone was finding someone, if not necessarily the one. But still, no one she met could make her want anything they seemed to want. All she wanted was out.

"Wait, what about you Lizzy? Have you ever had anyone special?" Finny asked.

Lizzy laughed nervously. "Ha, no I guess not. Still trying, right?"

Baldroy clapped her on the back. "That's the spirit! Hey, I know! We can set you up! Ok y'all, by tomorrow we're all coming up with a blind date for Lizzy."

As the other two agreed enthusiastically, Lizzy felt some hope. Who knows, maybe the legendary "one" might be one of her friend's blind dates. It sounded just like something out of one of those romantic comedies she loved. 

After the trio had sufficiently worn out the topic of setting Lizzy up, they parted ways. Lizzy considered going back to her dorm room, but decided to check on how Ciel's not-date had been. Unfortunately, this meant going out in the rain to get to his building. It had been hours, yet it continued to pour. At this rate, the Noah's Arc Café would actually need an Arc, or at least a boat of some sort. 

Hair completely ruined and makeup starting to run, Lizzy finally got to Ciel's building. Shivering, she started up the stairs, exiting at his floor. Looking down the hall, she saw him fumbling with his keys.

"Ciel, you're back!" she yelled down the hall, dashing down to give him a hug. 

"Lizzy, I'm trying to open my door! And you're soaking wet!" he said, pushing her off.

"So are you!" she retorted.

Realizing that she was going to come in no matter what, Ciel let her through once the door was open. "Hey, do you have any dry clothes?" she called, already rummaging through his closet.

Ciel put the book Lau had gave him by his bedside table, and then looked up and sighed. "Yeah, take whatever you want." 

With that, she took one of his larger jumpers and headed to the bathroom to put it on. While she was there, he took the opportunity to change into something dry himself. In doing that, he realized he still had Lau's hoodie. 

"I'll give it back later." he thought to himself, before tossing it over a chair and heading to the electric kettle to boil some water for tea.

Having finished changing, Lizzy flopped down on Ciel's bed, and opened his laptop. 

"So, how was your date?" She asked, scrolling through something he couldn't see.

"Oh my god, it wasn't a date. Are you trying to be annoying?"

Lizzy giggled. "Fine, how was your romantic rendezvous with your professor who you have a forbidden passion for?"

He raised his eyebrows. "That's like, not any better." At her questioning look, he sighed. "Fine, you want details? We played, I won, he gave me a book. And also a hoodie."

"Ooo-"

"Not like that, it was raining!"

She snickered for another moment before changing the subject. "Fine, Any updates on your real date then?"

"Not really." he answered. "I haven't actually seen the guy since Sunday. Let's hope it isn't too terrible anyways, I swear to god if it's anything like that date with the bowling guy-"

"Oh wait, was he the one that-"

"Don't even remind me. Anyways at least he's paying, and he doesn't seem like a complete imbecile. Just don't tell Sebastian, ok? I don't need his teasing right now on top of everything else."

Lizzy looked at him quizzically. "Everything else? We've only had a week of school, and all the works been interesting..."

"Maybe to you" he said shrugging. "But I don't really find it interesting, or anything. It's just work. Sebastian, my dad, it was always more to them. Do you think it'll become like that for me?"

Lizzy listened sympathetically. When he finished she pulled him into a hug. "I'm sure it will, Ciel. Don't worry. Also, I won't tell Sebastian, you don't have to worry about that either."

After a moment, he untangled himself from the hug and got up to pour the boiling water into his teacup.

"Hey, want to watch a movie or something?" Lizzy asked as he steeped his tea. 

"Sure? What do you want to watch?"

She went to their favourite streaming website. Who has money to pay for these things? 

"I feel like something classic. Back to the Future or Star Wars?" 

Ciel considered each. Deciding that Star Wars would result in jokes about couples that start out disliking each other, he chose Back to the Future.

Outside it continued to rain, but inside they were happy, eating microwaved popcorn and laughing at the hijinks of Marty McFly. Lizzy was starting to feel ok again. That's what was so great about their friendship. No matter what was happening with the rest of the world, they could always make each other feel ok again.

Suddenly Ciel jumped, having had an epiphany. "I know what I'll name the philosophy fly! Marty McFly!" He grinned. "I'm a genius."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone that's read so far, love you all. Feel free to leave Kudos or comments. Hope you're liking this so far! Also throughout this I'm probably going to insert my own likes and dislikes. For example, I really like the book brave new world and I can see Lau being really into it. Also, when writing the last scene I was low key thinking of a scene in Mr. Robot where the main character and his best friend bond over watching back to the future.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ciel establishes a relationship and Alois has an unexpected run in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day, woo. More coming soon y'all, thanks for reading.

The night of the date had come, and it had been good. That was, until it was crashed by a nuisance and his not-sister.

Ciel had worn blue, as recommended by Lizzy. He had made pains to look put together, but not trying too hard. At exactly six pm, Arthur knocked on his door. Ciel waited a minute to open it. Phantomhives were never desperate. 

The bus ride to the movie theatre was initially awkward, but they began to have easy conversation when Ciel made mocking comments about the obviously drunk teens in the back of the bus, and Arthur came up with a mysterious backstory for the man in the trench coat two seats away.

"Oh my god, he's pulling out sunglasses and it's not even sunny!" Ciel exclaimed.

Arthur grinned back. "Even more proof that he's a spy! I bet he's about to get off at the meeting spot."

"Meeting spot has no ring to it, I feel like there's a better word for it. Ugh, it's on the tip of my tongue." 

"No clue, but I read that a confusion agent is a spy that tries to mess up another intelligence group instead of gaining information. Does that help?" 

Ciel laughed. "Not really, but good to know I suppose."

By this time, they had reached the movie theatre. "By the way, what movie are we seeing?" Ciel asked.

"Umm..." Arthur dug the tickets out of his pocket. "It's called... let's see... The Girl on the Train? Yeah that's it."

Ciel, having no idea what the movie was, nodded as if he did. "Neat, neat. Well, I'm getting popcorn, want some?"

After stocking up on snacks for the movie, most of which he made Arthur carry, they headed into the theatre. The basic ads played, and eventually the movie started. The first five minutes seemed ok, and then it gradually started going downhill. By the time there had been cameos by actresses from Orange is the New Black, and Friends, Ciel wasn't able to take it seriously. When the third Night Shymalan style plot twist of the movie occurred, Ciel was starting to laugh at all the serious moments. 

Still, despite the fact that the movie wasn't worth watching, Ciel still found it rude when two people walked into the theatre halfway through, and started walking down the aisle saying "whoops, sorry!" every time they tripped over someone's feet. They didn't even whisper it.

The two newcomers ended up sitting beside Ciel and Arthur. Ciel looked over to see who they were.

"You!" He exclaimed.

"Yes?" Lau asked calmly.

"Why are you here?!"

"To watch the movie?"

"Halfway through-" Ciel whispered angrily, cut off by someone sitting in the row above him shushing them both.

Ciel continued watching the movie in bitterness. At least he wasn't the only one not enjoying the movie though. Looking over, he saw Lau falling asleep. Moments later, his head fell on Ciel's shoulder, resulting in Ciel elbowing him in the ribs. 

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Get off me!" Ciel whispered.

"Shhh"

Ciel and Lau turned around together, and shushed the person behind them in unison. Arthur tried to ignore the escalating chaos beside him, sending a concerned look towards them every few minutes.

By the end of the movie, Lau was completely asleep, Ciel was stifling his hysterical laughter, and Arthur and Ran Mao had indistinguishable expressions on their faces. As the credits rolled, Ciel kicked Lau's shin while walking by.

"Wake up, you dolt." he said, before leaving the aisle. Lau opened his eyes and stretched, before following Ciel and Arthur out of the theatre.

Ciel looked at Arthur. "Want to get a coffee? I know a good place."

Arthur agreed, and followed Ciel to the bus. Unfortunately, Lau and Ran Mao ended up following too. 

"Don't you have anywhere else to be?" Ciel asked, deciding to take the subtle route.

"Not really, why do you ask?" 

Ciel rolled his eyes. "Well, at least you're wearing normal trousers for once-" Lau's socks had caught his eye. "Why do you have weed print socks? How did you even get hired?!"

Lau just shrugged. That seemed to be his response to a lot of things.

Ciel turned to Arthur. "Right, guess we're double dating. That ok?"

Arthur smiled. "Sure, sounds good. We're all friends here!"

"Right."

Getting off the bus, the group headed to the Noah's arc café.

As they sipped on coffee, Lau leaned over to Ciel while Arthur was occupied by Ran Mao. "So, you and Arthur, huh? When did this happen? Tell me the deets."

Ciel cringed. "Don't say deets. And this is our first date, nothing's happened. Chill. Also you're my professor why are you even drinking coffee with us? Is that even legal?"

"Hey, all the other staff are boring! Baldroy never complains when we hang out, why are you making such a fuss?"

"Pretty sure that's because you sell him weed..." Ciel muttered under his breath.

Apparently Lau heard anyways, shrugging in response. 

The rest of the evening continued similarly, until Ciel spoke up, saying he was ready to head back.

"Want to walk with me?" He asked Arthur.

"Yeah sure, lemme get my jacket on..."

This time, shockingly enough, Lau didn't follow them but instead headed to his own home. 

The two walked to Ciel's building in silence, although Arthur occasionally glanced at Ciel and smiled a bit. When they reached the door, as if on impulse Arthur leaned over and kissed Ciel quickly, before backing up and nervously saying "goodnight", and walking quickly away. 

As expected, Lizzy and Soma were waiting for him when he got to his room. They bombarded him with questions. 

"How was it?"

"Did he pay?"

"Did you kiss?"

Ciel interrupted before it could go further. "It was fine, he paid, we kissed."

Soma spoke up again. "On a scale of one to ten, how was the kiss?"

"I don't know. Fine, I guess? Nothing earth shattering, but decent."

Soma looked disappointed at this, but for some reason Lizzy looked almost like she was relieved. Ciel stored this in his memory to ask about later. As his friends continued to interrogate him, he decided to not being up how he spent more time talking to Lau than Arthur. After all, that would only invite more teasing.

***

Ciel and Arthur continued to go out for the weeks that followed. So far there had been eight dates. They had gone to two more movies, three restaurants, two trips to the library for study dates, and one two am trip to McDonalds. Often Lau showed up during the dates. Despite being fairly easy going, Ciel could tell Arthur was beginning to get irritated by this, especially when Ciel ignores him in favour of continuing his banter with Lau.

When Lau showed up on their dates, despite trying to distract Ciel from Arthur and occasionally blatantly flirting with him (Putting his arm around him mid conversation, commenting on his looks, using vaguely sexual pick up lines, etc.), he always had the decency to let them walk home together. This kept Arthur from getting upset, because they were always good walks home. 

They had started with just a goodnight kiss at the end of each walk, but by now it was routine to hang out at Ciel's room at the end of each walk. This tended to include at least ten minutes of making out. It was innocent, but neither were in a rush. They were just having fun. Besides, every time they even used tongue Arthur acted like they were being ridiculously scandalous. Who knows how he'd react to anything more. 

During their first few dates, Lizzy and Soma had arrived at his room soon after he and Arthur had gotten there. After they walked in on the two going at it though, they started waiting an hour before bursting in.

Everything else in Ciel's life had been pretty mediocre. 

Well, some things were interesting. Professor Spears seemed to have decided that he hated him. Shortly after, Sutcliff had too. Perhaps there was a connection there.

He had continued to ignore Alois in philosophy, who seemed to be catching on to his dislike, and growing more irritated with him as a result.

Lau continued to be useless as a professor, but he was becoming less annoying and more entertaining to Ciel. Not that he'd ever admit it. 

Whenever Alois was annoying him, he'd send a look in Lau's direction, and Lau would send a sympathetic look back to him. Whenever a student tried giving Lau an answer, he'd look over at Ciel, and Ciel would laugh to himself, remembering that Lau didn't even know the answers himself. Whenever Ciel spent too long watching the newly dubbed "Marty McFly" Lau would give him a look of mock disappointment, to which Ciel often responded to by flipping him off or sticking his tongue out. Which one of the two he chose depended on his mood. Lau would either react by smirking or by faking a look of betrayal and hurt. This would also depend on his mood.

Coming to terms with the fact that he wasn't going to learn anything in this class, but it would be an easy mark, it became significantly less of an irritation to Ciel, and like the professor himself, more a cause for amusement.

Now, it was the weekend. Ciel and his friends were all drinking the drinks of their choice, and hanging out at the Noah's Arc Café. 

"Go fish." Ciel said, grinning at Lau. Nothing gave him more joy than doing better at games than him. Since he had started hanging around with Ciel and his friends all the time, Ciel was at least going to get some joy out of it.

As Lau grumbled, picking up more cards, Ciel turned to Arthur. "How's the studying going?"

Arthur flung his textbook to the table, and accidentally spilled his coffee in the process. After apologizing profusely to the waiter with bleached hair, who he had found out was named Daniel, he started his rant.

"Ugh, it's terrible. I was good at math in high school, but this stuff is way different! I'm trying, but I just don't understand it. I don't even like it, either! That might make it easier, if I did. I like writing, so that's easy for me. But this is important! What if I fail?" He rubbed his eyes.

Ciel froze. He was never really very good at comforting people and dealing with emotions and stuff. They were just so...messy. After a moment he patted his boyfriend's arm. "There, there..." he said, sending panicked glances in his friends direction. Lau was anything but helpful, laughing into his hand. Lizzy on the other hand, tactfully swooped in, saying some comforting words to Arthur about how smart he was and how there was no way he'd fail.

Relieved, Ciel returned to his game, after elbowing Lau for being useless in awkward situations. However when he won minutes later, he kept his celebrations to a minimum. Truth be told, he felt Arthur was being a bit melodramatic, but for the sake of their relationship he thought he should be reasonably sympathetic. Crowing about his win might not be the most sympathetic thing to do.

*** 

Lizzy's blind dates had all been lacking.

Mey Rin's friend had talked about how meat was murder and being vegan was the only way to live until she excused herself to the bathroom and made an escape through the back exit. 

Finny's friend had spent the whole dinner talking about their ex, even drunkenly crying at the end. They had had one too many glasses of wine. At least they had paid.

Baldroy's friend had been ok. He had been a little too interested in action movies, especially Die Hard, but overall he had been decently entertaining. And that was almost worse, because there was nothing wrong with him. Yet here she was, never wanting to go on a date or do anything else with him again. 

Her three friends offered to try again, but she declined. She was getting tired of disappointment, after all. 

***

Alois didn't know why Professor Annafellows bugged him so much. Maybe it was her voice. Maybe it was her suck up personality. Maybe it was the hair. God, did she ever cut it? And why purple? Whatever it was though, he couldn't stand her. So much that he spent most of his class drawing her getting shot, decapitated, or being in other generally similar situations. 

So when he saw her in the bar that he and Claude had just entered, he considered leaving just to be petty. Then he realized that his pettiness would have no effect, since she probably wouldn't notice that he was there or that he left, so he decided to stay. Maybe he could find some other way to be petty.

When Claude headed towards a booth, Alois complained. "Ugh, we never sit at the counter. It's so much more fun there, we can't see anything from a booth."

Claude ignored him, going to sit down. Giving up, Alois followed him. 

The bar was small and crowded. There was music playing but it was hard to hear over the sound of people's voices. 

It was a significantly more cheerful atmosphere than the bar where Alois had first met Claude. That one had been populated by four other people, none of them talking. They weren't there to meet friends and have a good time, they were their to drown their sorrows and mediocrity with liquor at one in the morning. This hadn't really bothered Alois, as he had been there for the same reason. You don't go out trying to find your dream man at a seedy bar on the edge of town at one am. And yet, strangely enough, Claude had walked in. And that's what Alois found, when he wasn't even looking for it. His dream man.

Well, maybe Claude wasn't a dream. Sure, he could be cold and uncaring. Sure, he could be cruel, like how he'd threaten to throw him out, or tell his old foster father his location, or replace him with someone else. But he cared for him, Alois knew he did. And besides, he had done so much for him already. He had saved him, and so Alois owed him everything.

Alois was distracted from his thoughts when a familiar female voice said "Hello Claude...and Alois. It's interesting seeing you both here."

Looking up with irritation, he saw professor Annafellows. It took him a moment to realize that she sounded as if she was irritated too. Also, she was looking at Claude with something that looked like recognition. Looking over to Claude, he saw that he wore the same look.

"Yes, interesting to see you too." Claude said, in monotone. "Now that we've commented on that, feel free to leave."

She looked like she wanted to say something more, but after a moment she turned and left with an odd look in Alois's direction.

"Do you know her?" Alois asked.

"It's none of your business. Stay here, I'll order for you."

***

Ciel's phone buzzed. Groping in the dark, he finally picked it up and pressed "answer".

"Hey Sky boy, what are your Halloween plans?"

"Lau? What?"

He repeated himself slowly. "What are your Halloween plans?"

Ciel rubbed his eyes.l, and looked at the time on his bedside clock. "Why are you calling at one am? How do you even have my number?!"

"Chill, I'm calling from Baldroy's phone, we're hanging out." Ciel heard his friend's voice in the background call out, asking if Lau was on the phone with him. 

"That doesn't explain the time, but I acknowledge that you're not going to explain it. It's only the first week of October, why would I have plans yet?"

"Great, me and Baldroy are making plans. We'll fill you in." With that, Lau hung up. Ciel stared at his phone for a second, before turning it off and curling up in bed again. Every time he thought that the man could be rational, he pulled this kind of thing. 

"He's an absolute menace." was the last thing he thought before falling into a deep slumber

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been making up names for circus characters that are similar to their stage names. Doll=Molly, Dagger=Daniel, etc.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the gang make plans, and I try out writing some stuff to up the rating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we go, another chapter. If you're reading, thank you so much, I love you all. This is my first time writing sin™ so it's kinda short and probably terrible. Idk. Anyways, have fun.

"Why is it called Great Britain? I mean in my experience it's good, but not great. It should be called Okay Britain."

"Soma, I swear to god. Call it Britain like the rest of us. The U.K. works too. Just don't call it Okay Britain on your first major project of the year. I'm saying this for your own good." 

Ciel and Soma were working on their psychology projects together. Not that it was a group project, but Soma had just gotten lonely working on it alone. When he showed up at Ciel's door, Ciel decided it was easier to tune him out as he worked than to throw him out.

Soma tossed his binder off the bed. "Ugh, this is boring Ciel. Ciel. Cieeeelllllll!"

With a sigh of exasperation he looked up from his laptop. "What?!"

"I'm bored." He whined.

"What am I supposed to do about it?"

Soma considered for a moment. "Hey, we could invite your cool teacher over-"

"He's not cool."

"And we could finish making Halloween plans! It's one week way and we still haven't made the perfect plan, we need to hurry up Ciel!"

Ciel continued typing. He wasn't willing to support this nonsense. Soma, however, was not easily swayed to stop. Finally, Ciel tried a new approach. 

"How would we call him anyways? I don't have his number."

"It's on the school website Ciel, stop being such a spoilsport." Soma pouted.

"Stop being so melodramatic!" Ciel exclaimed. "Why are you all so obsessed with him anyways?"

"I just think he's cool." Soma muttered, before picking up his previously tossed binder. 

After a while Ciel put in headphones. Because of this, it was too late when he finally noticed that Soma was talking to someone on the phone. When he pulled out his headphone, his friend had already hung up. "Who was that?" He asked, suspiciously.

Soma couldn't keep a straight face. "Oh, no one special, just Lau and he'scomingoverherenow!" He finished in one breath.

Rolling his eyes, Ciel sighed. "Right. I give up." And with that, he turned off his laptop and faced the fact that he wasn't going to get any more work done tonight.

Since Lau lived so close by, it only took him a few minutes to show up. It was enough time for Ciel to make himself a cup of tea. He chose a calming blend in order to have more patience. 

Instead of knocking, Lau entered the dorm room by just, well, entering. Having been waiting for a knock, Ciel jumped when from directly behind him Lau said "Hey, Ciel. Missed me?"

After recovering and wiping up his spilled tea, he glared at his teacher. "No, I literally saw you yesterday. Also, do you know how to knock?"

As usual, Lau only smirked in response to his ire. "Of course. But then I wouldn't have had the fun of scaring you."

Ciel scowled. "I wasn't scared!"

At this, Lau only responded with a pointed look at the spilled tea on the couch.

"Shut up. Anyways, Soma's over there."

"We can't make the plans without you! Don't think you're getting out of this." With that, he dragged Ciel over to Soma, and they sat down on either side of him to prevent his escape. 

"Not that it would be hard to keep you from escaping. You're so tiny, after all." Lau added.

Ciel flipped him the middle finger before asking "So, what are the plans so far?"

"We can't decide. I want to do a haunted house, Baldroy and Mey Rin want a scary movie marathon, you want to buy a ton of candy and pig out at home, Lizzy wants to go to a party..."

Ciel gave Lau a look of exasperation as Soma rambled on, and Lau sent him a smirk in return.

"We could do everything." Lau suggested.

Soma grinned. "Perfect! We'll have a Halloween marathon! We can make a schedule, it'll be great. Ok, so first. Start with a party because it doesn't need to be dark for that. Next, while it's still early but it's gotten dark, we do a haunted house. There's one twenty minutes away, plus it has a spooky wagon ride too. That all sounds good, right?"

Ciel and Lau nodded. There was nothing involved that Ciel outright objected to, as long as he got candy out of the night.

"And then when we get back, we go to someone's house, watch scary movies, and eat candy." Ciel breathed a sigh of relief.

Lau piped up. "We can do the movies thing at my house, I've got the comfiest couch. You should always invest in a comfy couch."

"I hate to agree with him, but he's right. His couch is comfy." Ciel added.

Soma nodded. "Okay, Lau's it is. I'll tell everyone the plan then. I think Lizzy had a party in mind, I'll ask her about it. Where should we meet?" 

"I figure you're going to decide on my room anyways, so there's no sense in arguing. We'll meet here."

Having agreed on the plans, they all went their separate ways. However, Lau and Soma both stole a handful of candy from beside the couch before they left.

***

The amount of festivity in each class varied. Some, like Professor Sutcliff's, were fully decorated with pumpkins, ghosts, bats, and other seasonal decor. Others, like Professor Spears', were left exactly the same as always. 

And then of course there was Lau, who straight up brought a pumpkin to class and started carving it. Occasionally he asked students for suggestions on the face he carved. Ciel was beginning to notice that he was being chosen more than any other student. 

With the day itself rapidly approaching, Lizzy and Soma began finalizing their Halloween marathon plans. Ciel had taken pains to avoid them this week as a result. 

This worked out for him, since he was becoming overwhelmed by his workload. He had major tests and assignments for every class, all of which were tediously boring. 

The day before Halloween, Arthur and Ciel were studying together. Arthur wasn't going to spend Halloween with them, as he wanted to help his younger siblings trick or treat. 

"Ugh. This is stupid. I hate Professor Spears' class. And all of my classes actually."

Arthur looked up. "Yeah...you've mentioned. I have to ask, why are you learning about business if it clearly doesn't interest you?"

Ciel sighed. "I've got lots of reasons, but I don't really want to talk about them, okay? Besides, it could be worse. It's not like I hate it." 

"Yeah, but you should do something you actually want to be doing!" Arthur exclaimed.

"Says the guy that is taking medicine when what he really likes is writing. Don't be a hypocrite." He snapped back.

"This isn't about me! And don't be patronizing, Ciel."

Ciel rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'll drop it." Never missing an opportunity to be petty, he added "But you started it."

Before Arthur could add anything else, his phone started to ring.

"Hello? Mum? Yeah, I know. I'll get there at like five okay? Can't wait to see everyone. You too. Bye."

Looking at Ciel apologetically, he said "I should probably go. Anyways, sorry for sticking my nose in your business."

No longer feeling irritated and needing a break from studying, Ciel looked up at him through his lashes. "Can't you stay a few more minutes?" He asked, with mock innocence.

Arthur raised his eyebrows. "I- sure, I guess..." 

He sat back down beside Ciel, and proceeded to nervously play with the cuff of his sleeve. Ciel sighed. He was getting used to subtlety not working on Arthur.

Giving up on that approach, he grabbed a fistful of Arthur's hair and pulled him into a kiss. Arthur let out a squeak of surprise.

Ciel had found, as with everything else Arthur did, he was averagely good at kissing. Never the less, it was still enjoyable. Even if it didn't make him see stars or anything like that.

Recovering from his initial nervousness, Arthur slid his hand around Ciel's waist, to rest on his lower back. Deciding to take the initiative to get things moving faster, Ciel let his hand rest high up on Arthur's thigh. When he gasped at the touch, Ciel took the opportunity to slide his tongue past his lips. 

His fingers clutched at Ciel's shirt. When Ciel broke off to kiss along his jawline, he was breathing heavily.

However, when Ciel shifted his hand to rest on top of his now quite hard cock, Arthur choked. Ciel had to stifle the urge to giggle. His boyfriend was just so innocent. 

As Ciel continued to stroke him through his pants, Arthur had to bite his lip to keep from moaning. The look Ciel was giving him, half innocent and half pure evil, only made it harder. Too soon, he knew it was going to end. 

"Ciel, I'm gonna-"

"What?" Ciel batted his eyelashes.

"Fu-" He started to curse, but it turned into a moan as he came in his pants.

After a moment, Ciel spoke up. "Well that didn't take long."

Arthur coughed. "Sorry. I'm sorry. It's just been a while, and you're really hot and I-"

Ciel smirked. "It's fine. Soooo..." He gave a pointed look to Arthur and then gestured towards the tent in his own pants.

When Arthur caught on, he blushed. "Oh shit, sorry. I'll just, like, uhm..."

Once again taking the upper hand, Ciel leaned forward and kissed him. As they kissed, he took Arthur's hand in his and slid it into his pants. Finally making a move for himself, Arthur wrapped his fingers around Ciel and stroked slowly. It was clumsy and inexperienced, but it would do. As he got close, Ciel thrust his hips a few times. When he came, he groaned quietly. 

After a moment of awkwardness, Arthur said "I guess I should probably go, I need to get my stuff together for visiting my family, plus now I have to change..."

Ciel nodded. "Have fun tomorrow. See you soon." With that, he gave him a quick kiss before he left.

After Arthur was gone, Ciel only had enough time to have a shower and clean up before his phone rang.

He picked up the phone to hear Sebastian's voice. 

"Hey Ciel. How's University? Impressed anyone with your, ahem, original dance moves? Failed any classes? Is your life a complete disaster without me yet?"

Ciel scowled. "Why are you calling, Sebastian? Also, I'm perfectly capable of living my life without help."

"I'm sure. Which is why I had to do everything for you for the past five years."

"You were my guardian, of course you were supposed to do things for me! Anyways, you still didn't say why you were calling."

"Do I need a reason to call my little brother?" he asked sweetly.

"Yes." Ciel responded flatly.

"Well, I'm hurt. How rude. Anyways, fine. I'm visiting in two weeks. I'll be staying for the weekend. Do you have room for me to crash or do I need a hotel?"

Ciel sighed. "I have a couch, if you really must use it. Why the sudden visit?"

"Why do you always doubt my motives? Anyways, Tanaka's been trying to get me to check on you, I'm hoping this will get him off my back. Honestly Ciel, he seems so peaceful but once the man makes up his mind about something, he's a force to be reckoned with." 

Being ridiculously rich, Ciel's family had had a butler in his childhood. That butler had been Tanaka. When Sebastian came home to look after Ciel after their parents death, his services had no longer been needed. However, he had been with the family so long that neither Sebastian or Ciel were willing to part with him. As a result, they let him live in the house in his retirement, and he had become a sort of grandfather figure to them both.

"I figured. Right, well, let me know when you have the details. Bye." Without waiting for an answer, Ciel hung up. 

Ciel and Sebastian had a complicated relationship. Ciel would always be grateful for how he had looked after him and became a parent to him after all the turmoil of his parents death, and during the resulting investigations and finally the two year long court case.

However, although Sebastian would never let him be hurt in any serious way, he could also be uncaring, mocking, and willing to let him suffer a multitude of minor pains and struggles. Not only that, but he could put so much pressure on him. To help run the family business, to have perfect grades, to be talented, or immaculately dressed, it didn't matter. If he failed in any category, there would be a mixture of mocking and disappointment. As a result, Ciel was never quite sure where he stood with his brother.

Figuring the chances of getting sleep tomorrow were slim, he curled up in bed and switched off the lights. He'd try to tackle his projects again tomorrow morning. That is, if the impossible happened and he wasn't bombarded from every direction with distractions. Suddenly, a thought brought him back to wakefulness. 

"I swear to god, if he brings a cat with him..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that I overuse commas so much. I blame it on the amount of Aldous Huxley I read. Also I'm sorry if I'm getting character's voices wrong. If you have tips or feedback, feel free to let me know.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the gang do Halloween activities. Heck, I know halloween's past, but what can you do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double posting tonight, woo!

5pm

"C'mon Ciel, stop dragging your feet. The sooner you go to the party, the sooner you get to the eating candy part of the night." Lizzy said, pulling him along. 

"How long do we have to stay?" he asked.

"We'll head to the haunted house at six thirty."

"Gotta stay on schedule!" Soma added.

Their group was composed of Ciel, Lizzy, Soma, Lau, Ran Mao, Baldroy, Mey Rin, and Finny. Having met at Ciel's room fifteen minutes earlier, Lizzy had filled them in on the party they were going to, and chastised Ciel for not being in costume. Lizzy was dressed as a princess. Soma was dressed as a detective. Baldroy was Frankenstein, Mey Rin was a witch, and Finny was a vampire. Ran Mao was dressed as seaweed. Lau didn't have a costume either, although he insisted that his costume was the scariest because everyone fears themselves, or something like that.

Once they arrived at Lizzy's party, Ciel scoped out the area for the ideal place to scowl and look antisocial for the next hour and a half. After much deliberation, he decided on the stools by the counter. After all, that's where the food was.

This has always worked for him at previous parties, but now he had Lau around. The man followed him, sat beside him, and completely ignored his glares. 

"Hey, Ciel. It seems that people are looking at you strangely. Perhaps that's because you don't have a costume. It's rather odd not to have a costume on Halloween, you know." he said, leaning on one elbow propped on the counter.

"You're the last person I want to hear that from. It's not like you have a costume either." Ciel retorted.

"Hey-"

"Don't even try to pretend that is a costume, we both know you're just lazy."

Lau shrugged. "Meh, perhaps you're right. Punch?"

Ciel accepted the offered punch. "You better not be trying to get me drunk," he said, with a suspicious look at Lau.

"I would never! Alright, so I might. But not this time, it's non alcoholic."

They continued to talk for the rest of the party. Ciel found himself wondering why Lau was so easy to talk to. Despite having only known him for two months, he had never felt so comfortable just hanging out and talking with a person. He loved Lizzy and Soma dearly, but conversations with them always took effort. With Lau, things just came naturally.

Even when he wanted to be mad at the guy, within minutes he'd be laughing at one of his subtle insults about those around them, or rolling his eyes affectionately when he pretended to be clueless about something. He frequently forgot that he was even his Professor.

"So, basically, Carrots should not be made into cake. It's not like I'd put a tomato in a cake-"

"Actually, there are recipes for chocolate cake with tomato paste." Lau interrupted. 

"What? That's disgusting!" Ciel exclaimed.

Lau shrugged his signature shrug. "Tasted pretty good when I made it."

"Wait, you make food other than pot brownies-" He stopped suddenly when he noticed a snake in the candy corn.

"Should I tell someone there's a snake in the candy corn?" He asked nervously.

"No, let it live it's life." Grabbing Ciel's wrist, he pulled him back down to his stool. "Now, let me tell you why tomatoes and chocolate work."

Ciel glanced back at the snake with concern. It didn't seem to be going anywhere, so he promptly forgot about it.

However, he was reminded of its presence when Lizzy arrived with the rest of the squad, and yelled "There's a snake!"

"Yeah, we're letting it live it's life. Ready to go?" Ciel asked.

"Yeah, we probably should get going. It's like a half hour bus ride to the haunted house, and there'll be lines."

Ciel and Lau got up and followed. Glancing back before they went out the door, Ciel briefly noticed a boy, with at least four other snakes around his shoulders and on his arms, picking up the snake from the bowl. Ciel decided not to say anything. He'd let him live his life.

7 pm

"All the actors here seem to be lacking in script. They say the most random things, just with a scary voice. It doesn't seem particularly frightening or creative." Ciel observed.

"Stop being such a grump, I think they're great. I can't wait to get inside the house." Soma said, grinning enthusiastically.

"At this rate, that'll be in about five hours." Ciel muttered, looking at the length of the line they were in.

"So why didn't you wear a costume?" Lau asked.

"You're not on about that again, are you?"

"Well gee, I'm just wondering."

"Honestly, I couldn't think of a good one that wasn't already being done by one of my friends."

Lau smirked. "I suppose I could help you come up with one for next year. Hmm, what would be the perfect costume for you? Let's see, let's see. I'm thinking...sexy cat."

"Okay, first of all, I'm allergic to cats. Second of all, no."

"Sexy Alice in wonderland?"

"No"

"Sexy cowboy?"

"No."

"Sexy policeman?"

"No."

"Well that's rather disappointing. Oh well, it was worth a try."

"Was it really-" Before he could finish, a girl dressed up in some sort of zombie costume jumped out at him, making him shriek. 

"Not frightening, huh, Ciel?" Lau asked between snickers.

Ciel crossed his arms. "Shut up."

As it turned out, it was not five hours until they reached the end of the line, it was only thirty minutes. Still, by that time, the whole group was getting pretty tired of standing around.

Finally, though, they went inside the haunted house. The first room was pitch black and they had to feel there way through. Being a large group, this involved bumping into each other a lot. 

They continued to make their way through the house. Some of the rooms were purely atmosphere, such as the creepy child's room, and what seemed like a post apocalyptic diner from what Ciel could tell.

However jump scares were also a big part of it, so many rooms had actors in costume. 

In one room that had a bunch of fake but realistic butchered pigs hanging from the ceiling, there was a guy in a butcher's coat and pig mask who would lean over the counter and make disturbing sounds at them. There was another room with a mad scientist who would ask them to let him experiment with them. At one point, they were walking down a hall. Because it was dark, everyone was watching the shadows by the walls and floors. As a result, none of them were prepared for the actor that jumped over the top of the wall, from what must have been a ladder on the other side, and screamed at them.

Soma and Lizzy screamed. Already on edge, Ciel jumped back. He squeaked when he collided with Lau, who he hadn't expected to be there. 

Looking up in the dim light, he could make out a leer on Lau's face. "Need me to protect you?" 

"No! Shut up." 

Having regained their composure, and in Lau's case, having never lost it, they continued. After that there were only a few more rooms.

Once in the last room, they were chased out of the house by a girl in an ambiguously creepy costume.

As the group walked towards the line up for the wagon ride, they talked about the highlights of the haunted house.

"Man, when that guy with the pig mask leaned over the counter..."

"Right? That was so uncomfortable."

"Weren't the sets great though?"

"Yeah, the fake blood was so realistic, especially in that room with the blue light."

Lau piped up. "You know, if someone was to commit murder, this would be the ideal place. Someone hears screams, they won't think anything of it. Someone walks around covered in blood, no one cares. You can even wear a mask the whole time."

"Well, you seem to have put a lot of thought into this." Ciel commented.

Lau shrugged. Before they could discuss it further, the wagon started loading. Ciel ended up sitting wedged between Finny and Lau.

The ride was less scary than the haunted house, but Ciel had to admit it had a better atmosphere since it was outside. The night was fully dark, and the trail went through the forest. There was even a full moon. 

There were various tableaus that they passed along the way. There was also a woman dressed as a witch telling scary stories at the front of the wagon. 

Near the end, a guy with a fake chainsaw jumped onto the edge of the wagon, right where Ciel was sitting. As a response, he fell over to the side, putting as much space between himself and chainsaw guy as possible. 

Seconds later, he realized he was sprawled across Lau's lap. Quickly, he jumped back and straightened himself out as if nothing had happened. 

Lau, however, wasn't about to let it go. "Aw. You looked good on my lap." he whispered.

Ciel blushed in the dark, and then elbowed Lau in the ribs. There was a quite yelp in response.

At the end of the ride they all clambered off, laughing and making fun of each other's reactions.

"I wasn't scared at all." Ciel claimed haughtily.

"Didn't you scream when the spider thing dropped?" Lizzy asked.

"No! It must have been someone else-"

"Poor Ciel, you must have been terrified without me!" Soma flung his arms around him.

"Quite. We should probably catch our bus." Ciel said, disengaging himself from the embrace.

The group headed out to the street. They were just in time, as the bus had just arrived. 

9 pm

"What movie are we watching?"

"You mean movies, Ciel. It's plural." Baldroy corrected.

Ciel was happy at this point, because he had his candy. Curled up on what was a very comfy couch, with a bowl of Reese's pieces, Kit Kats, Mars bars, Coffee crisp, and little boxes of smarties, was what he considered living the dream.

"Quit it!" He exclaimed at Lau, who had just snatched a handful of chocolate bars. Lau smiled smugly as he took a bite.

Mey Rin held up a handful of DVDs. So, we're thinking of starting with The Ring, and then watching Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, and finishing up with 1408."

Ciel raised his eyebrows. "We'll be watching 'til like seven am. Take some off the list."

"1408 is great, but it doesn't have the whole Halloween feel. Also, we've all seen Nightmare on Elm Street. We could take those off." Lizzy suggested.

"That takes us to about three am. Fine. I can work with that." Ciel was fairly easygoing about this, given that he had his candy. Lau offered to let him sleep on his shoulder, which might have seemed well meaning if not for the smirk on his voice. Ciel turned him down.

Having decided on the movies, Baldroy went to pop some popcorn. He promptly set the microwave on fire, but Lizzy put it out. After they all praised her for saving the day, they worked together to successfully pop some.

By the time the first movie ended, they were all sufficiently freaked out. Finny was crying over the fact that a horse died in it. 

As Mey Rin put in the second movie, Ciel's phone rang.

"Hey Arthur, what's up?"

"Just checking in. How's your Halloween going?"

Ciel looked over at his friends, laughing and joking. "Don't tell anyone I said this, but I suppose it hasn't been that bad. You?"

Arthur laughed. "Wow, that's saying something, coming from you. Mine's good. I'll tell you more about it when I get back, okay? I have to go, bye!"

"Bye, see you soon." Ciel hung up and rejoined the group.

"Missing him?" Lau asked.

Ciel shrugged. He hoped it came off as casual, but the truth was, he was thinking hard. Because he didn't really miss Arthur. And sure, it had only been a day, but it made him think about how he'd feel if he didn't see his boyfriend for weeks, or months, or even years. In each case, he felt the same way. He wouldn't really miss him. In fact, it wouldn't even effect him

It had started out casual, but now Arthur seemed to want something serious with him. Unfortunately, as much as he enjoyed his company and found him cute, Ciel was becoming more and more convinced that he didn't feel the same.

Before he could ponder further, Friday the 13th started playing. Ciel was quickly distracted by stereotypical teenagers getting hacked to pieces.

Lizzy was also letting the movie distract her. Whenever her friends got in serious relationships, for some reason it bothered her. She knew she should feel happy for them, but she couldn't shake the feeling that all her friends would find their one true love and go off into the sunset with them, leaving her behind. She hated being left behind.

And now, Ciel seemed to be getting into something serious, and there was nothing she could do about it. She just wanted him to be happy, and he seemed to be happy with Arthur. 

If she thought about it too long though, she got angry at herself. It was selfish of her, wanting her friends to herself. She was better than that and she knew it. But still, she couldn't help feeling the way she did.

3 am

Ciel was very comfortable. He had fallen asleep, but apparently not for long, since he could hear a movie still playing. He wasn't ready to open his eyes yet. Where he was curled up, it was very warm, and soft. It was like cuddling with a person.

Suddenly, Ciel realized he was cuddling with a person. In his shock, he fell off the couch, and then opened his eyes to see exactly how badly he had embarrassed himself.

The bad news was, he had inadvertently fallen asleep on Lau's shoulder. The good news was Lau was completely asleep, and therefore couldn't tease him for it. 

Another piece of bad news was that Ciel was now wide awake, and unable to fall back asleep. 

The movie finished moments later, leaving him with a whole lot of nothing to do, since everyone else was asleep. 

Having nothing better to do, he decided to explore. It wasn't like he hadn't wandered around this house before, and he was pretty sure Lau wouldn't care, and mostly, he just didn't care if Lau cared. 

There wasn't much to see on the lower level of the house, so he headed upstairs, turning on lights as he went. There wasn't much to see in the bathroom, except maybe in the mirror cupboard. However, Ciel decided it would be kind of creepy, not to mention an invasion of privacy, to go looking through there. Also, he didn't really want to know what weird drug related things the man kept around.

He wandered down to the room that he had played chess with him in. There was nothing of note there, and it was the same in all the other upstairs rooms. About to give up on finding anything interesting, he remembered the study downstairs where they had had their rematch.

Once he arrived there, he turned on the lamp and looked around at the room for a second time. Not being distracted by a game, he was able to notice more this time. He also remembered the book that he had borrowed from Lau, and made a mental note to read it soon. He was mildly curious what it was about.

There was a beautifully engraved box on the desk. Curious, Ciel opened it up. Inside was a long and elegant pipe. It looked like the type of thing Lau would own, but he had to admit it was quite beautiful.

He spent a little longer appreciating the art that lined the walls. Most of them were made with ink, and featured elegant brush strokes of things such as birds, fish, and flowers.

There was a bookshelf filled with old books. Some were on subjects such as philosophy and psychology, some were literature, and some were collections of poetry. He seemed to have a fondness for poetry. This intrigued Ciel, although he was hardly surprised. Lau did tend to have a poetic way of putting things. 

On the bookshelf there was also a photo, framed in ornately carved redwood. 

In the photo, there was a young boy who looked enough like Lau for him to safely assume that that was who it was. There was also a younger girl with him. He was just looking closer at the picture, when he heard Lau's voice behind him.

"I take it you couldn't sleep?" He asked pleasantly. 

Ciel coughed. "I, erm, never fell asleep in the first place."

Lau gave him a knowing smirk. "Of course. I'm glad you came to this room anyways, as it's my favourite room in the house."

"I thought so. All the other rooms seem very...empty. Like, they have furniture and all, but they don't have any character. They don't seem lived in. But this room feels like you. Wow, ok, this is getting too deep for this hour of the morning."

Lau nodded. He seemed unusually serious. Perhaps the hour of the morning was getting to him too.

Ciel pointed to the photo. "Is that you? And who's the girl? If you don't mind me asking, that is."

Eyes perhaps a millimetre wider than usual, Lau stared at him intently for a moment, seemingly thinking. Finally he answered. 

"Yes, it's me. And the girl was my sister."

"Was?"

There was a pause. "She's not here anymore." He eventually clarified.

"Oh." Ciel flushed. "I'd say that I'm sorry, but I know that it doesn't help."

"I imagine you do know. I imagine you've lost people too. Your guardian is your brother, but it's more than that which tells me. I could see it when I met you. You carry a sadness with you, don't you? I can see it, even if no one else does."

The room felt very quiet, filled with tension.

"I have, and I do." he answered softly.

"It's yours to carry, but if you'd ever like to share it, I would be interested to hear the story. However," he paused to yawn, breaking the seriousness, "We should probably go to bed. After all, I have a class to teach tomorrow."

"And I'm sure you'll do an excellent job of teaching it." Ciel deadpanned.

"Of course, I always do. Here, you can use the spare bedroom. It's the one with the blue walls."

"Thanks. Right. See you." He answered, before heading upstairs. Suddenly, he was exhausted, and fell asleep within minutes. 

Unfortunately, he slept through the morning, lacking an alarm. Fortunately, it didn't matter, as it was his favourite morning. The one where he didn't have class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've read this far, thank you so much!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ciel and Lau have adventures, and Sebastian shows up really briefly.

Lizzy decided it was time to put her foot down. 

"Soma, stop throwing grapes at Ciel. I know you want attention, but he has a test in three days." 

As Soma whined, Ciel rolled his eyes. "Thanks, but it doesn't matter. It's not like there's a chance in hell of me passing this. You know that Professor Spears barely gave us any idea of what to study. If I knew what the questions would be on, maybe I'd have a chance. But as it is, I don't, and so I don't have a chance. I'm not sure why you aren't worried, you're as much at risk as me."

Lau looked up from his magazine. Ciel knew he had been listening the whole time because the magazine was upside down.

"What if-" he paused as their food was brought to the table by Daniel, the waiter. "What if I told you I could get a rough copy of the test, so you knew what to study?"

Lizzy and Ciel spoke at once. 

"That's cheating!"

"Well, are you saying that?"

Lau stood up. "Yes, I'm saying that. If you want my help come over after dinner tonight." With that, he walked off.

"Why is he always making those dramatic exits?" Lizzy wondered.

"Who knows, for the drama. He forgot his food though. Soma, you want it?" he answered.

Soma nodded enthusiastically, and dug in. Since he wasn't sure he trusted whatever Lau had up his sleeve, Ciel continued studying.

***

As usual, Ran Mao opened the door when Ciel knocked. He found Lau on the couch.

"Why don't you ever open the door yourself? It's not like you're busy with anything else." He asked, with a pointed look at the couch.

"Meh, it creates suspense. If I don't open the door, people wondering what I'm doing that prevents me from opening the door. Anyhow, what are you here for?"

"You told me to come. You invited me less than five hours ago!"

He shrugged. "Oh yeah. Right, the test. So what I'm saying is, I've been in Professor Spears' office, and I know which drawer he keeps his drafts of tests in."

"Isn't his office locked at night?" Ciel asked.

"Yes, and so is the drawer. However, I know how to pick locks.

"Not surprising. What about cameras?"

"He's disabled them. He hates being watched in his office."

"What if he shows up?"

"Grell owes me a favour. I'll get them to distract him. As you may have noticed, they have a talent for it. Besides, the whole staff know that he's secretly into them, even though he never admits it. Should be easy as pie."

Ciel thought for a moment. On one hand, this was morally wrong. On the other hand, that kind of thing hadn't stopped him in years.

There was also the risk of getting caught. However, when he thought of Sebastian mocking him for failing, and his family turning in their graves because he wasn't living up to the family name, he decided that that outweighed the risk. 

"Fine. When do we do it?"

Lau got off the couch. "Now. Let's go."

"Wha-" Lau took his arm and pulled him along. Ciel decided that arguing was a lost cause, and it would be easiest to go along with this.

As they walked across the campus, Lau phoned Grell.

"Hey, you know that favour you owe me? Well, I need it now. No, no, nothing like that. Look, I need you to distract Will for the next hour, can you do that? Thanks."

Having sorted out that part of the plan, they reached the building. After walking down a few halls, they reached step two of the plan: breaking into the office.

"I feel like this needs the Mission Impossible theme or something." Ciel commented as Lau fiddled with the lock. 

"A lot of things need the Mission Impossible theme. Also, success. Door's unlocked, I'm a genius. I know you may want me to take you right now on the nearest surface, but I'm going to have to ask you to control yourself. Nothing's a turn off like Will's office. He's got three types of staplers." He grimaced. "I don't know what Grell sees in him.

"Not that I don't agree, but I'm not sure what he sees in Grell either. Anyways, that's not the point. Let's go." With that, he pushed past Lau, who followed him into the office.

"So which drawer is it?" He asked.

"Hmm, let me think..."

Ciel glowered. "I swear to god, if you've forgotten-"

"It's the bottom left one!" Lau exclaimed. Without waiting for a response, he knelt down and began picking the lock.

Ciel took the moment to ask a question he had been wondering. "Aren't you worried that you'll get fired for this?"

"No, I won't get caught. Also, the fact that I haven't been fired yet speaks volumes about what it would take for me to lose my job. Also, lock's picked. Find the paper, take a picture of it, and we'll go." he said, standing up.

Ciel ruffled through the drawer until he found the sheet with the correct course code. He snapped a pic, and then put it back in place.

"Right, let's go." he said, walking out. Lau followed, closing the door behind him.

*** 

"Oh my god, this is a lifesaver. Thank you so much, I owe you."

Ciel was sprawled out on his bed, studying the relevant material. Lizzy, Lau, Ran Mao, and Arthur were also in the room. This made the space fairly cramped, but he figured there could be worse people to be stuck with.

When Lau smirked at the last part, Ciel quickly corrected himself. "I owe you, within reason. Don't get any ideas. Lizzy, you sure you don't want to see this? If anyone's going to take the fall for this, it'll be me and him."

"No, I'm good. Honestly, it's not even because it's cheating, I don't care that much about that. I've just already been studying for the past three months. Unlike some people, I have good studying habits."

"Hey-"

"Shh. Have a cookie." She tossed him one of the chocolate chip cookies they had bought at the corner store. Ciel attempted to catch it, but ended up missing completely. Lau was thoroughly amused by this. 

***

The test came and went. It was fairly successful, given how it followed what he had studied. However, Ciel couldn't help but worry. What if something went wrong? What if he had made a terrible mistake?

"As you leave the class, be sure to pick up your test. I've marked them all. Some results were surprisingly good. Others... were not." Their Professor droned in his usual bored monotone.

Lizzy leaned over. "I'm sure you did great, Ciel. Stop worrying."

As he walked towards the front desk he felt as though he was walking to his doom.

He picked up the envelope with his name on it. He deliberated between opening it immediately or opening it with Lau around so he could kill the man if their plan had backfired.

Deciding on the second course of action, he headed to Lau's house, accompanied by Lizzy and Soma.

This time, Lau was found lying on the floor. When asked, he clarified that he was counting the dots on the ceiling.

Ciel arched a brow. "Don't you have marking to do?"

When Lau just sat up and shrugged, he continued. "I've got the test back, so I'll either be hugging you or killing you in thirty seconds."

"I'm terrified." Lau mocked.

Ciel opened the envelope apprehensively. Holding his breath, he looked at the mark in red ink.

"Ohthankgod!" He exclaimed in a single breath. 

"Good news?" Lizzy asked, taking the paper from him. "Oh, wow, we got the same mark! Nice, man." She gave him a high five.

"So do I get that hug?" Lau asked with a wink. "After all, you do owe me, remember?"

Ciel debated with himself, but he was right. He had helped him a lot. "Fine. Although you really could have used the IOU for something better, but whatever you want, I guess?"

"Well, if you're saying I have more options, I guess I'd also be open to a blo-"

Ciel cut him off. "How 'bout we stick with the hug?"

Lau shrugged, and pulled him into an oddly tight hug. This bothered Ciel, not because of the tightness but because he realized hugging Lau was very enjoyable and that wasn't a realization he wanted to have. If it wasn't for the man's complete lunacy, status as a teacher, and terrible taste in clothes, Ciel might consider him attractive. However, as it was, he most certainly didn't find him attractive. There was no reason he would enjoy the taller man's arms around him, or being pressed against his chest, or fuck it he needed to get out of this hug before he had an involuntary reaction. He'd think about the meaning of this later.

"Ok, ok, you've had your hug. Get off." 

Once freed from the embrace, Ciel forces himself to stop blushing. Once that was resolved, he turned his attention to Soma's rant about curry powder.

***

The next week quickly passed, and with it's passing came Sebastian's arrival. 

Ciel knew his brother was there when he got to his room and found it completely tidied, down to the last dust particle.

"Pretty sure it wasn't this clean when I moved in. Old habits are hard to break, huh?"

Sebastian appeared from behind the couch, where he was apparently dusting. "Just because you let yourself live in a pigsty doesn't mean I'll let you. You're a Phantomhive, after all."

"Right. So, do you want to do anything, or are you just going to keep cleaning?"

Sebastian thought for a moment. "As much as there's still work to be done here, I suppose I should get a tour. Show me around, then."

Ciel headed off with Sebastian in tow. Occasionally he pointed at things and made comments such as "That's the slowest elevator on earth.", "That's my mathematics building.", "That's where we get lunch." and "That's someone to avoid."

The last comment was as a result of a flurry of red, headed in their direction. 

"Well hello there." Grell said, winking at Sebastian. "And who might this be?"

"It's my brother, Sebastian. Now that that's cleared up, we'll be going now..."

"Slow down! You never told me you had a handsome brother-"

Ciel interrupted. "Because I don't."

Grell shushed him. "So, Sebastian. Hmm, that's too long. How about... Bassy! Yes, that's perfect. Anyways, Bassy, how long are you staying here?"

"Only two days, fortunately." Sebastian commented lightly.

"Well, be sure to come see me! I have to be going, Will is such a beast when I'm late, bye bye!" With that, they took off in the other direction. 

"You were right." Sebastian said. "That definitely is someone to avoid."

Having confirmed that, they continued the tour. There wasn't much left to show him, so they headed back to Ciel's room soon after.

They made plans to go out for dinner with Lizzy and Soma. They had hung around at Ciel's house enough during the past ten years, that they were close to Sebastian too.

The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully. At five pm., Lizzy showed up with Soma in tow and they headed out to a restaurant of Sebastian's choosing. It was accepted by all that he had the best taste.

"So, Lizzy. How have you been? How is Ciel doing at school?" Sebastian asked between bites.

"You could ask me yourself." Ciel grumbled.

"And I'm sure you wouldn't answer truthfully. So, Lizzy, tell me everything."

Lizzy gave a brief summary of Ciel's hard work, and thankfully left out his relationship with Arthur.

"Good. He should be working hard."

Ciel sighed. This is why he had gone out of his way to cheat on the test. His brother couldn't seem to accept anything other than the best, and even 'good' was only the bare minimum to him.

As Sebastian caught up with Ciel's friends, Ciel pushed peas around his plate with his fork. He didn't really have much to talk about with him, and it was clear that Sevastian wasn't interested in knowing much more than his academic progress. 

After a much too long and uncomfortable dinner, Sebastian paid the bill and the two siblings parted ways with their friends.

As they walked back to Ciel's room, Sebastian cleared his throat. "So, there may have been another reason I came to visit. I have news, and I thought I should tell it to your face." 

"Oh?"

"So. Remember Adrian Lavallée?"

Cie froze. "I think I remember the man that broke into our house, tried to rob us, and then killed our parents in a panic when he was caught. Not to mention how we spent so long trying to get him convicted after what should have been an open shut case. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I don't know if you've read the news-"

"I haven't. Get to the point."

"Well, apparently he got in a fight with someone in prison, it went south for him, etc. He's dead, Ciel."

Ciel stood there in shock. "What?"

"I know it's hard to hear, you always had these big ideas of revenge. But it's time to grow up. He served his time, and he's dead now. You can move on."

It wasn't that the man was dead that bothered Ciel. Sure, it would have been nice if he had suffered more, although he had to admit, that sounded a little fucked up. A little fucked up wasn't a new concept to Ciel. 

What bothered him was how nonchalantly Sebastian told him. He told him breezily, as if it was only a minor inconvenience that the man he had hated all these years was gone, and there was no one he could direct his pain towards. 

He acted as though Ciel's anger had been childlike, when the man it was directed at had taken away those most dear to him. 

He acted as though a few years in prison was enough to make up for what he had taken from him.

The worst part was, Ciel knew Sebastian wouldn't have bothered to come down to tell him face to face unless Tanaka had told him to. He would have just said it over the phone, in the same breezy manner.

Ciel didn't have room for any emotions other than anger. 

"What the bloody hell do you mean, grow up?! He killed my parents! He killed your parents! I think I get to be a little upset! Of course you aren't, it's not like they ever mattered to you-"

"Hey!"

"Don't even pretend they did! You disappeared as soon as you could, you only came back when they were gone!" he yelled.

"I came back to take care of you!"

"Yeah, 'cause you wanted some fucking prodigy! You always tried to make me be the perfect Phantomhive heir. It wasn't even for our parents, it's clear they don't matter to you. Otherwise, this whole thing might actually bother you. No, it's because if I wasn't the perfect Phantomhive, it might ruin your reputation, or whatever. Look, you can lie all you like. God knows it's what you always do. But I don't want to hear it right now. Just go back to my room and sleep on the couch. Leave in the morning. I'm done here."

Sebastian looked as though he wanted to say something, and then thought better of it. Accepting that Ciel didn't have anything more to say, he headed off in the direction of the dorms.

Alone, and standing in the cold, Ciel tried to figure out what to do next. He didn't want to see Sebastian right now, so that ruled out his room. 

He tried phoning Arthur, Lizzy, and Soma, but there was no answer.

Losing options, he realized that Lau's house was two minutes away. Swallowing his considerable pride, he walked the two minutes and knocked on the door.

After being let in, he found Lau making microwave popcorn. 

"What brings you here, sky boy?"

"Oh for- you know my name. Anyways, any chance I can stay in your spare room for the night?"

Ciel was worried that Lau would ask why. He had no idea what he'd answer. However, it turned out he didn't need to worry."

"Sure thing. Want some popcorn? I promise it's better than Baldroy's" he said with a benign smile.

And with that, Ciel was smirking at memories of his destructive friend, and forgetting the past hour.

"Sure. By the way, I never asked you. When did you learn to pick locks? 

"Meh, who knows. Useful skill though. Comes in handy. I steal part of Knox's lunch everyday, then lock the door as if no one was ever in his office. He gets so confused, really, it's hilarious."


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the gang cook a chicken.

With a flounce in his step and a glare in Professor Annafellows' direction, Alois headed out of the classroom. However, his perfect exit was ruined.

"Alois. Can I talk to you for a moment?" 

He considered just leaving, but his curiosity got the better of him. He flung himself into a chair across from his professor's desk, and fixed a glare at her.

"Well? What do you want? Honestly, I don't have all day." He spat.

Professor Annafellows looked at him symathetically. "How do you know Claude?"

"How do you know him?" He parroted back.

"I went to school with him. In fact, I know him pretty well. Enough to be able to tell you that you deserve better than him, at least."

Alois stood up. "How do you know what I deserve, huh? Anyways, he saved me! If it wasn't for him, I'd still be with my foster father..."

"Why did you need to get away from your foster father?"

"None of your business! Stop trying to play therapist, I don't need your help!" He exclaimed, before walking out. 

Hannah watched after him. "But you need someone's help." she said to herself.

She had known Claude Faustus for years, and had watched him do the same thing, over and over again.

He would always find someone who was suffering, and then save them. By doing this, he'd create a debt between them. He'd foster dependency. He'd make himself their saviour.

Once he made the person rely on him completely, he'd take what he had wanted in the first place. Sometimes it was power, or politics. Sometimes it was money. But he always wanted something. And when he got it, he'd leave. Or sometimes he didn't, which was worse. Because once he had what he wanted, he wouldn't play the nice guy anymore. And then whoever he was with would show up at class or wherever else with bruises, and Hannah would hate herself for not doing anything.

Hannah wasn't a confrontational person. As a result, she had stayed back, and watched this happen every time. But this time was different, she was going to stop this. She would find out what the man, the spider, wanted. And she'd stop the cycle.

How could she do anything different? It was Alois. She knew him, even if he didn't remember.

***

Sebastian left the next morning, as instructed. For the next two weeks, Ciel tried to forget about his visit. This wasn't too hard, as there were multiple distractions in the form of schoolwork and friends. Now, there was another distraction. 

"Wait, what? Why are we celebrating an American holiday?" He asked sceptically.

"Because America is amazing!" Baldroy yelled from Lau's kitchen. 

"M'kay. Any other reasons?"

"Soma's been watching Brooklyn Nine Nine, and he's feeling left out that we don't celebrate Thanksgiving." Lizzy explained.

"So what exactly is this going to consist of?"

"Honestly, we're probably just going to cook a chicken and pretend it's turkey."

Lau piped up. "I know a guy who knows a guy who sells good chicken."

Ciel raised his eyebrows. "I'll take your word for it. However I think we'll just get one from the grocery store."

"Your loss." He shrugged. "Wait why are we buying chickens anyways?"

Ignoring him, Ciel continued. "So what's the plan? Get together Thursday and cook a chicken? Works for me, I guess. Where and what time? Also can I bring Arthur?"

"Basically. How 'bout here?" Lau nodded, and Lizzy continued. "I'll bring the chicken, and let's try for six-ish. Also, sure. Bring him along, I guess.

Both Lau and Lizzy seemed resentful that he was bringing Arthur. Ciel wasn't sure why, but he let it go. 

Ciel had one more question. "How do you guys feel about getting a pumpkin pie?"

***

"So, I'll cook the chicken. After all, I'm the American here, I know what I'm doing." Baldroy stated proudly.

Everyone else quickly disagreed. Eventually, Finny managed to convince his friend to let them deal with the cooking. 

To placate him, they let him talk about Thanksgiving traditions and stories.

"Should we tell him about how it's a holiday based on genocide?" Ciel muttered to Lau.

"Nah. I want pie. Don't ruin this." Lau whispered back.

Twenty minutes later, Ciel was considering telling him anyways. One could only hear so many stories about happiness and family and being thankful before going completely mad.

Ciel and Lau started placing bets on the theme of the next story. 

"Two quid that it's about family." Lau surreptitiously whispered to Ciel

"So this next story isn't about family, but there's other things to be thankful for. Like friendship." 

Ciel grinned. "Ha! Pay up." 

The money changed hands quietly as their friend continued.

Lizzy and Arthur, who had been helping with the preparation, showed up at the kitchen doorway and called them in to dinner.

Ciel mostly just picked at his food, saving room for the pie. This wouldn't be a problem for Baldroy, Finny, and Mey Rin, as apparently they had bottomless pits for stomachs. 

Ciel caught Soma discreetly adding spices to his food. Having known him since he had come to Britain as an exchange student years ago, Ciel was used to his friend carrying spices in his pockets. One never knows when they'll be confronted with a bland meal.

When the pie was brought out, everyone dug in with enthusiasm. Ciel told Lizzy and Arthur that the food was great, to which they both seemed pleased. 

Arthur was just starting to tell him some long story about making the food when Lau saved him.

"You know, chickens are really hard to take care of. Anyone who says differently is trying to sell you a chicken." he said mildly.

"What, did you own a chicken?" Ciel asked.

"No."

"Right."

On the other side of the table, Mey Rin and Lizzy were talking.

"So, you said you had another date for me? Who is it?" Lizzy asked.

"Erm, well, me?"

"What?" Lizzy asked, somewhat shocked.

Mey Rin stuttered. "I mean, if it doesn't go well, we can go back to being friends and all. I was just thinking, it might be nice to try? I know a good restaurant." She smiled nervously.

Lizzy smiled back reassuringly. "Why not? I can't guarantee it'll work out, but we can try. Besides, it gives me a chance to wear the cutest outfit..."

She liked Mey Rin well enough, but not that way. However, she was sick and tired of her friends bringing their dates, and looking at her sympathetically when she showed up alone. She could make this work. She was sure of it.

After dinner, they all hung around the living room, too full to go anywhere. Eventually Lau and Ciel began a game of darts. It escalated from being casual to being ridiculously competitive, with their friends split into two sides and cheering or booing in turn.

The only person who seemed particularly uninterested in the game was Arthur. 

At the end of the night, Ciel walked back to his room with him, as they always did. However, this time there seemed to be tension.

"Okay, it's obvious you're upset about something. Spit it out." Ciel finally said.

"It's nothing. I'm not upset." At Ciel's incredulous look, he gave up. "Fine. I'm just getting tired of you always brushing me off for that teacher-"

"What? I don't do that!"

"Yes you do! He's all you ever pay attention to. You never even look my way when he's around. You laugh more with him than you ever have with me. You do everything with him! You even go to him when you're upset! That should be me!"

"I tried calling you, you didn't pick up!"

"Okay, fine, but you can't deny that you spend all your time with him. We'll even be in the middle of a conversation and you'll drop it the second he says something."

Ciel sighed. "I didn't realize it bothered you that much, but I can have friends you know. I think you're overreacting."

"Friends. Of course that's what you are." he retorted.

"What else would we be? Are you implying something? Because if so, just say it." Ciel said, growing irritated.

"I'm not blind! He flirts with you constantly!"

"He's just joking around, that's what he's like-"

"So why doesn't he do it with everybody?"

Ciel paused. He did have a point, as much as Lau's flirting seemed joking, it was true. He didn't really do it with anyone else.

"Exactly. And it's more than that. You don't notice it, but I do. He's always looking at you. And I mean really looking. You know how he looks at everything like it's mildly amusing, at most? When he looks at you, he seems more serious than I've ever seen him. He looks at you with this intensity, and you can't tell me that isn't the look of someone with more than friendship on their mind. I'm not stupid, Ciel. I don't know if he loves you, is in love with you, or is just attracted to you, but I don't like it."

Ciel's mind was whirling. "Well, what am I supposed to do about it?"

"I think that's obvious! Stop hanging out with him. He's a bad influence, not to mention that he's literally your teacher. Kind of weird by the way."

"What if I don't stop hanging out with him?" Ciel asked.

"Then maybe I'll have to rethink this relationship. Because I'm not okay with you and him acting like that together. So it's up to you. What's more important to you?"

"I have to think. Can we talk about this later?" Ciel asked. "This is my building, anyways. I'll call you, ok?"

Arthur nodded, before walking off. Ciel headed up to his room. He was too confused to think about any of this, so he fell into bed, resolved to deal with the situation in the morning.

***

"I can't believe her!" Alois exclaimed. "Our relationship is none of her business. How dare she tell me what to do, or what I'm feeling!"

Claude absentmindedly stroked his hair. "Of course. Ridiculous of her. It isn't as if I've ever given her reason to think I'm a bad person."

Alois continued to babble on about how terrible she was. Eventually Claude interrupted.

"So, you know how your foster father died?" He asked, as nonchalantly as possible for the abrupt subject change. 

"Yes?"

"How's the will coming along? Did you find out if he left anything to you yet? I remember when we met, you said he was pretty rich. Wouldn't it be exciting if he left anything to you?

"Not really. I have you, that's all I need. Why would I want his dirty money anyways?" He snuggled up to Claude.

"You will let me know when you find out, though?"

"Of course, don't worry. I tell you everything!"

"Good." Claude answered. "Very good."

***

Ciel slept in, and therefor had no time to think about the possibility of Lau's feelings. He rushed off to class, and stayed busy until the inevitable boredom of philosophy class. 

He had just settled down to give the subject some serious thought when he was interrupted by a familiarly infuriating voice.

"So, I was talking to Claude. You know, my boyfriend? Anyways, he says-"

Ciel interrupted, having completely lost his patience. "Will you just, for once in your life, shut up?!"

Alois sat there, dumbfounded. Ciel gathered up his books and moved to a seat on the other side of the room. The class watched with interest, mainly because they had nothing else to do.

Finally at peace, Ciel considered everything Arthur had said. It was true that Lau flirted with him, and frequently made an effort to spend time with him. It was true that he didn't do that with anyone else. But was the part about how he looked at him true?

Ciel pretended to be looking at his binder, but subtly kept an eye on his teacher. After awhile he began to notice a pattern. Every once and a while, Lau would glance at him. It was subtle, but it was there. And there seemed to be a heat to the look, that Ciel had never seen directed at him before. He was used to being found cute or attractive, but this was more than that. He had a sudden realization that he wanted to explore that look, and find out exactly what it was. What it meant.

That lead him to his next train of thoughts. How did he feel about the man? He had thought he only tolerated him, but he was beginning to realize he was lying to himself. Wasn't Arthur right, that he was always spending time with him, and ignoring everyone else for him? And he had started to realize how much he enjoyed Lau's company. 

All of that could still be attributed to friendship, but there was more than that, wasn't there? There was the moments he noticed the colour of his eyes, or the softness of his hair. There were the moments where he caught himself staring at his lips. There was the pang of jealousy he felt when he considered Lau having other relationships. There was the urge he sometimes got to put his head on his chest and curl up with him. There was the warmth he felt in the pit of his stomach when their eyes met across the classroom. There was the fluttering in his heart that he felt when he learned something new about him.

Okay, maybe Arthur was right. Maybe there was something more going on. But now Ciel realized something else. He couldn't just cut Lau out of his life. He had never known anyone like him, and although he'd never admit it, he'd come to need the man around.

Well, there was going to be an awkward and emotional phone call when he got home, that was for sure.

***

Oddly enough, it wasn't that bad. Arthur was understandably sad, but he seemed to understand.

"You need to do what's right for you. And I need to do what's right for me. I guess this is goodbye?"

Ciel shrugged, hands in his pockets. "I guess it is."

Before he could overthink it, he gave Arthur a brief kiss. Then, they headed off, going their separate and ways.

Ciel was sorry that they hadn't worked out, but Arthur was right. It was best for both

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since there's no souls and demons on this au, Claude's after money in this fic. Idk.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ciel has a birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning, this chapter has recreational drug use. It's pretty low key, just smoking weed, but here's a warning. Also, there's some higher rated content. If you want me to mark these things more clearly, please let me know. I'll be happy to fix it.

And so it quickly turned into December. There were a few minor changes in Ciel's life. 

For example, he no longer had to deal with Alois. On the other hand, he did have to deal with his dirty looks. The kid seemed to hate him now. This was all well and good with him, because at least he wasn't talking to him.

Another change was the lack of Arthur in his life. This didn't bother him that much, but it was odd getting used to it.

There was also a change in the weather. By the second week in December, it had begun to snow.

Another thing that changed was the amount of time he spent with Lau. He went from spending most of his time with him, to spending all his time that he wasn't at school or asleep with him.

Sometimes it was with all their friends together. Sometimes, though, they spent hours alone. They'd play cards, throw darts, watch movie, or just talk. They never really talked about anything serious, but it was comfortable. Ciel began to realize that he was happier than he had ever been. 

Because of his newfound comfort and happiness with Lau, it was him that he turned to on his birthday.

He loved his friends, but on this day that hurt so much for him, he had to get away. As a result, he ended up knocking on his door.

Upon entering, he found Lau surrounded in smoke. From what Ciel could tell, it appeared to be weed. This wasn't an uncommon sight to walk in on, so Ciel took it in stride.

"Hey, Ciel! What's the reason for the surprise visit? Not that I," he let out a puff of smoke, "don't love seeing you." He emphasized his point by trailing his gaze down Ciel's body, and then back up, meeting his eyes once more.

Ciel blushed. Now that he had realized that Lau's whatever -it- was for him might be genuine, he was much more reactive to his flirtations. Clearing his throat, he considered what he wanted. Eyes settling on the blunt in Lau's hand, he made up his mind.

"I wanted to smoke with you."

Lau burst out laughing. "Ah, is our innocent friend not so innocent after all? Well this is certainly a surprise. Well, I'm not going to stop you. Come over here then."

Ciel walked over to the couch with determination. After he sat down, Lau beckoned for him to come closer. He shifted until he was sitting so close they were almost touching. This seemed to satisfy Lau.

"Just breathe it in, like this." He said, demonstrating. "Then you hold it in for a few seconds, and breath out. Here, you try."

Ciel took it from him, and followed his instructions. However, as soon as he breathed the smoke in he was hit with a coughing fit. Lau giggled.

"Watch me again. Like this."

Ciel watched. He watched as Lau's lips wrapped around the blunt, and as they let out the smoke. Ciel was beginning to feel a bit light headed, and he couldn't help staring at those lips. When Lau noticed, his lips curled into a sly smile. 

Ciel tried breathing the smoke in again. This time, it came easier. He was starting to feel something. It felt warm, and fuzzy. Like everything was okay. And still, his eyes kept drifting back to Lau's lips.

A few minutes later, he noticed that he'd drifted closer to Lau. Now, their thighs were touching, and the man's arm had wrapped around his shoulders. When had that happened? It was so pleasant that Ciel couldn't bring himself to change their position.

Lau breathed in smoke, and then let it out slowly in front of his face. Ciel shuddered, and breathed it in. He felt Lau's fingers stroke along his shoulder gently, and gazed up into his half lidded eyes. Although his head was now quite fuzzy, he realized he was quickly getting a problem that he didn't want Lau to know about. Maybe the Lau was interested in him. Maybe he was interested in Lau. But either way, he wasn't quite ready for him to know that he was half hard over this. 

Quickly, before the problem got any worse, he excused himself to the bathroom.

Locking himself in, he decided there was only one way to get rid of the problem. He shoved his hand in his pants, and used his other hand to stifle the resulting moan.

He tried to keep his mind blank as he stroked himself, but his thoughts kept drifting back to the man downstairs. The way he curled those lips, what else could he do with them? Ciel's cock twitched at the thought of Lau's mouth on him, kissing and sucking and leaving bruises. He would look so good on his knees.

This led to a new train of thoughts. What would it be like to be the one on his knees? What would he taste like? Would he sit back and watch, or would he participate? Would he pull his hair, or fuck his face? He groaned at the thought, jerking harder and rougher now that he was painfully hard. It felt so good, so sweet. Would Lau be good at this? Would he stroke rough and hard, or slow and teasing? 

The pleasure was becoming too overwhelming for him to think clearly. Of course, that also might have been the weed. The last thought that flashed through his mind was of his hand being Lau's hand, with Lau watching as he came undone. Already being too far gone, Ciel came into his hand with a cry. 

He shuddered for a few seconds, before cleaning himself up. He drank some water to clear his head. Once he had pulled himself together, he headed back downstairs. He found Lau watching a movie. 

"You're back, huh? Want some popcorn?"

Ciel sat down beside him, taking some popcorn and focusing on the movie. He quickly realized that following the plot was impossible, but it didn't really matter. It was a distraction, and the popcorn was good. After about half an hour he fell asleep on the couch.

When he woke up, Lau was gone. However, he had apparently given him with a blanket and pillow before he left. Ciel smiled to himself, before realizing he was late to class. 

It was only later on when he realized he had passed through the anniversary of the worst day of his life without thinking of his parents death at all. Although he felt some guilt for it, he mostly felt relief.

***

Alois had always loved the snow. When he was younger, his brother would always wake him on the first day of snow by jumping on the bed. Together, they would run outside, and make snow angels or snowmen. Later, they would build forts with the kids in the neighbourhood and a lengthy battle would begin.

He didn't have his brother anymore. He wasn't a kid anymore, either. Still, the snow made him feel innocent again. He could pretend that everything hadn't changed. 

When he looked out his window at a world blanketed in white, it was as if his family hasn't died in that car crash. When he walked to class amid the swirling flakes, it was as if he hadn't been taken in by that man, the one who had taken any childhood of his that had survived the accident. 

It was as if nothing bad had happened. Heart lighter than it had been in a long time, he burst into the apartment. "Claude! Have you gone outside? It's so pretty-"

"Don't tramp snow through the house. You're better than that."

"Of course. Sorry. But c'mon, let's go for a walk or something!"

Claude refused, but it wasn't enough to dampen Alois's spirits. He made himself a hot chocolate, and curled up by the window, watching the snow fall.

***

Lizzy smiled at Mey Rin over her tea. Her date had started out nervous and uncomfortable, but soon they were talking and joking like usual. 

"I guess I don't really know that much about fashion designers. Can you teach me?"

Here was something Lizzy could talk about. "Well, it's such a broad subject. Everyone has different tastes. There's the classically beautiful designs, and the more modern, bright ones. Here, let me show you some of my favourites on my camera roll..."

Mey Rin listening diligently for the next hour. Two teas later, the subject was finally fully covered. 

Mey Rin in turn talked about her favourite books. She was an avid fan of Stephen King, and talked about his books for the next two teas. By that time, it was getting dark.

"We should head home, I guess." Lizzy interrupted. 

"Oh, right. Wanna walk together?" She asked shyly.

In the growing dusk they walked back across the campus. Halfway there, Mey Rin took Lizzy's hand. Lizzy didn't pull away.

*** 

In the next week, three relevant events happened to Ciel. 

The first was Alois destroying his essay, clearly still annoyed about being told to shut up. However, he wasn't even remotely subtle in getting his revenge, and as a result he ended up getting himself in trouble (although Ciel never found out what the exact repercussions were), and getting Ciel extra time to finish his project, which really just needed to be printed again.

The second was Grell inviting everyone to their Christmas party. They even wrote the time and adress on the board in front of the class. Ciel was getting used to the bizarre lack of professionalism in his teachers. 

The third was Lau asking him to said Christmas party. It came about like this.

Ciel and his friends were walking to Lau's after hanging out at the Noah's Arc café.

It was a peaceful and pleasant walk until Soma threw a snowball at Ciel, but missed and accidentally hit Lizzy. 

Lizzy expertly tossed two at once towards Soma, who got hit by one and ducked the other. The one that didn't hit him hit Baldroy. 

Baldroy rounded up Mey Rin and Finny to be on his team (there were teams now), and began assaulting them with snowballs. One rogue snowball hit Ran Mao. This was crossing the line, and so Lau and Ran Mao started throwing them back towards Baldroy and co., accidentally hitting Ciel in the process.

Ciel, spluttering and face full of snow, scooped up a handful of slush and chucked it back at Lau. All out war ensued.

After limited success with projectiles,   
Ciel tried a new approach. He ran towards Lau to get his fistful of snow right in his face. However, just as he got close enough to do so, he slipped.

Feeling himself falling, he reached out and grabbed Lau's sleeve unfortunately, instead of keeping him from falling, it just pulled Lau down on top of him.

On the bright side, they landed on a snowbank. As a result, there were minimal injuries. Everyone else was too absorbed in the chaos to notice them. 

Slightly stunned from the fall, Ciel looked up at Lau. They both realized what a compromising position they were in at the same moment. Instead of his usual smirk, this time Lau gazed down with a look of awe. Underneath him Ciel lay with his hair fanned out, speckled with snowflakes. 

Breaking the silence, Lau asked "Are you going to Grell's party with anyone?"

Ciel looked slightly puzzled by the abrupt question, but answered. "No? I guess not?" He said, slightly breathless. 

"Ran Mao is taking an art course that night, and I need a plus one. Interested?" He asked, as though he wasn't still propped above Ciel.

Ciel's curiousity got the better of him. "Why not? Sure, I guess."

"Why, that's great. Guess I can get up now, then." He stood up, dusted the snow off his shoulders, and rejoined the snow fight seconds later as if nothing had happened. A moment later, Ciel did the same.

Afterwards, he brought it up with Lizzy and Soma.

"I knew it! I knew you had a crush!" Soma exclaimed.

Ciel rolled his eyes. "You know he asked me, right?"

His friends continued to babble on about what it could mean and what would happen at the party and how they would win the various bets they had made about the subject. 

Ciel ignored them, and ignored the butterflies in his stomach at the thought of it all. He was an expert at burying feelings, and this would be no different.

*** 

When someone knocked on Ciel's door, he was relieved at the distraction from his homework. When he opened it to see Finny holding a small spruce tree, accompanied by Lizzy and Soma, he was less relieved.

"We had a vote, we're putting the Christmas tree in your room." Soma said, grinning. Despite having no Christian ties, Soma had loved the holiday ever since he arrived in Britain as an exchange student. This was mainly because it involved presents and people being cheerful, which he could wholeheartedly get behind.

"Wait! I didn't get a vote!" Ciel objected. His complaints were ignored, and the tree was set up. 

There was barely any room to move. Half an hour later, his friends were laughing and decorating the tree while Ciel sipped the hot chocolate Lizzy had made to console him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the gang go to a Christmas party and various hijinks ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't been able to fit too much Finny into this fic, but I just want to say he's really important and I love him.

"Ciel, we're helping you get ready! C'mon, let us in!" Lizzy banged on the door.

Ciel begrudgingly let them into the cramped room. He muttered complaints as they rifled through his wardrobe.

"It's not as if he's going to dress up, I don't see why I have to. Honestly guys, this is ridiculous. Oi! I'm not wearing that! Not that, either! What's wrong with just wearing a jumper? What I have on is perfectly fine! Why are you both like this."

Many complaints later, Ciel was forced into a blue dress shirt with silver embroidery on the cuffs. He couldn't even remember buying such a thing. That was the case with most of his closet. Lizzy was generally behind it.

"I still think what I had on was fine." He grumbled as they walked downstairs. 

"Stop being such a grump. We're just trying to make you look good for your date." Soma answered.

Ciel rolled his eyes. He wasn't even sure if it was a date. At the start of the year he would have guaranteed that it wasn't, since this was his professor. However, said professor didn't really teach and spent all his time hanging out with them, so it didn't really seem like it counted.

Lizzy and Soma split off to the party, leaving Ciel to go to Lau's house. When he arrived, he was shocked to find Lau not only opening the door himself, but actually dressed decently, with some sort of suit that didn't look completely terrible. Actually, Ciel found himself thinking that it looked really good. Not that he was going to admit that.

"Heya, Ciel. Word on the street is the food goes quick at these things, so we should hurry up. Also, Lizzy chose your outfit, right?"

Ciel scowled as Lau smirked. Not waiting for an answer, he headed out and started walking. Ciel followed.

"This is the first time I've been to Sutcliff's house. I'm slightly terrified." Ciel commented.

"Don't be. It's actually surprisingly normal. Anyways, it should be funny watching them try to get our Will under the mistletoe. They've been trying for years. Want to wager on whether this'll be the year they succeed?" 

"How much?"

Their banter continued the rest of the way. A few more bets were placed, a few insults were traded, and one thinly veiled pick-up line about how he should tell Lizzy to choose tighter clothes for Ciel, and they were at Grell's house.

Lau had been right, it was surprisingly normal. A generic suburban two story with red brick. The inside was also plain, aside from the ridiculous amount of festive decor. There was mistletoe on every doorway in sight. There were a lot of doors.

Professor Spears could be spotted in the centre of the living room, avoiding doorways at all costs. Lau smirked. "I don't know why he avoids it so much, it's not like everyone doesn't know he wants to kiss them. I myself will get quite a lot of money out of it if he does."

"As if. I'm the only one making money tonight." Ciel retorted.

Ciel headed towards the snack table, Lau wandering after him. "Ooh, gingerbread!" Lau said, filling his pockets. Ciel raised his eyebrows, but didn't question his dates lack of manners. 

A few moments later, they were found by Soma and Finny, who were both on their own as a result of Lizzy and Mey Rin's date.

Someone (probably Soma) had stuck a bow on Finny's head. However, he didn't seem to be interested in removing it, and was smiling brightly. It was rare that the blonde wasn't smiling brightly. He was the happiest person Ciel had ever seen, and it was infectious. Anyone who spent time with him couldn't help but feel happy too. Ciel was starting to feel himself smile at his friend's excited babbling.

"-and so I'm finally going to get a dog, which I've always wanted! Baldroy is going to help me choose one to adopt, I'm going to love it so much, It's going to be my best friend other than you guys-"

Ciel interrupted. "Slow down. I'm sure it'll be great. How 'bout you find Baldroy and talk to him about it?"

"Sure! That's a great idea, thanks!" He cheerfully dashed off with Soma in tow. Ciel smiled at them.

"You care about them, don't you? Even if you don't act like it." Lau commented.

"Shut up."

Some events that took place at the party were as follows.

Finny started crying because he was so happy about getting a dog.

Baldroy kept suggesting terrible names for the dog, such as "Cat", "Dog", and "Bob".

Lizzy forced accessories such as reindeer antler headbands and Santa hats on everyone in the house, for the sake of cuteness.

Grell cornered Will under some mistletoe. He ran away.

Mey Rin broke a glass cabinet. Grell got angry, Mey Rin cried, and Lizzy saved the day. Saving the day consisted of her defending Mey Rin angrily and then comforting her once Grell had calmed down.

Grell and Ronald Knox had a dance competition. Grell won.

Baldroy blew up a microwave. Grell was too busy trying to get Will under the mistletoe to care.

Lau dragged Ciel onto the dance floor. Instead of being romantic, like the movies, it mainly consisted of him snickering at Ciel's lack of dancing ability.

Lizzy and Mey Rin danced too, with significantly more grace.

Grell gave up, and kissed some weird guy with white hair that covered his eyes under the mistletoe. Will looked at them bitterly for about a minute, before confronting them. 

"I thought you were supposed to kiss me today, not him." He said, probably a bit drunk.

Grell looked confused for a moment before their face lit up. "So you do like me after all! I knew it, Will!" With that, they pulled him into a kiss. In what came as a shock to some, but certainly not to all, he didn't resist the kiss, but instead kissed them back. Money was seen changing hands.

"Don't smirk like that, you fool. I'll pay you back later." Ciel muttered, with no real heat. 

Grell and Will disappeared. More bets were made as to what they were doing. 

Baldroy got drunk and started singing along to Mariah Carey.

Lizzy did Mey Rin's makeup.

Ciel and Lau played darts. Lau asked him if it hurt when he fell from heaven. Ciel threatened to hit him with a dart if he used any more bad pick up lines. Lau told him that at his house, his clothes would be one hundred percent off. Ciel, true to his word, hit him with a dart. 

Finny accidentally knocked over a vase and started crying again. His friends came to the rescue to comfort him.

A guy with snakes showed up. Everyone seemed terrified, except for Finny. True to his character, he was cheerful and accepting from the second the snake guy walked in, and they seemed to bond. Later, they were found making a tiny hat out of construction paper for one of the snakes.

Mey Rin joined in the game of darts, and promptly beat both Ciel and Lau. Lizzy high fived her every time she scored a point. 

Grell and Will reappeared, hair messed up and clothes in disarray. Money changed hands once more.

Lau and Ciel changed games, and played pool. Ciel told Lau to stop staring every time he bent over to strike the ball. Unsurprisingly, Lau ignored him.

Eventually, it got late and the guests started to leave.

Ciel and Lau walked back in high spirits.

"I just hope this'll make Professor Spears more easygoing in class. Wait, maybe the reason he's always in such a bad mood is that he's sexually repressed." Ciel observed.

"I wouldn't be surprised. I think I should remind you though, you're always in a bad mood. What does that say about you?" He asked teasingly.

Ciel went to shove him, but instead lost his balance and started to fall. What he had in sarcasm he lacked in grace and balance.

Lau caught him, and grinned. "Looks like you just fell for me."

"I want you dead."

"I'm always down for kinky, but that's going a bit far, isn't it?"

Ciel glowered. "Next time just let me fall."

"You're so melodramatic."

Despite acting irritated, the thing was, he wasn't. He was perfectly happy. Lau hadn't let go of him yet after catching him, and the warmth of his arms made his heart flutter. Besides, it had started to snow again, and Lau had a few flakes caught on his eyelashes. Ciel caught himself staring.

After Lau let go, they continued walking. It was only another minute until they reached Ciel's building. Ciel was about to say goodbye to Lau, when Lau reached out and lightly stroked his cheek with his thumb.

Ciel looked at him questioningly. "There was a snowflake, I brushed it off." Lau clarified. His hand still cupped Ciel's face.

"You can move your hand now."

"Do you want me to?"

The world seemed very quiet for a moment. It was as if everything else had ceased to exist, and the two of them were all that mattered. Lau's eyes, though still half lidded, had that intense look they sometimes got.

"I don't know. I think... I might not." 

Lau leaned foreword slightly, as Ciel's breath hitched. It was closer than they'd ever been. Before he could get closer though, their moment was shattered. The door opened and a crowd came out of the building, loudly talking and laughing. Lau jerked back. 

"I'll see you around then, Sky boy. Wait! I almost forgot. Here's your present." He handed Ciel a small box wrapped in blue paper.

"I didn't get you a gift, though." Ciel protested. Lau shrugged, not seeming to care. With that, he was off, walking away into the snow. Ciel watched him for a second, before turning to go inside.

***

Lizzy left her presents with her friends, before boarding the bus to go home for the break. She was excited to see her family again. Since their house was in a more rural area, she hadn't had time to visit since the fall.

She was met at the station by her mother, who hugged her before sternly asking how she was doing at school. Lizzy spent the car ride to the house talking about how wonderful everything was, and how much she was learning. Francis seemed pleased.

Dinner was good, and Lizzy felt better than she had in a while. There was no pressure here. Well, there might be pressure in terms of school or fencing or manners. But she didn't mind that. What she minded was the pressure that dating someone gave her, and there was none of that here. Here, she was home.

***

Ciel and Soma were staying on campus over the break. As a result, Soma planned for them to have a sleepover on Christmas Eve, to be just like old times. Despite his grumbling, Ciel didn't really mind. 

Together, they watched cartoons and classic movies. They were joined by Finny, Baldroy and Mey Rin. Before the three left, they put their presents for Ciel and Soma under the tree. 

Eventually, Ciel convinced his friend to go to bed. He was woken up by the same friend jumping on the bed, telling him to wake up and open his presents. 

"Oh my god, you're an adult. You know that, right?" Ciel groaned, rolling out of bed.

"Stop being such a spoilsport. Get up, get up!"

Ciel followed Soma to the couch and sat down. "Open mine first!" Soma explained, dropping a large package on his lap.

The box was filled with a bunch of slips of paper. Ciel read the writing on one. It said "Coupon. Good for one free hug."

Ciel read five more, which all said the same thing. It was just a huge box of free hug coupons. "You hug me all the time, why do I need-" 

Soma wasn't listening. Instead, he was tearing of the wrapping paper on his own present from Ciel. In it was a bunch of chocolate, with flavours ranging from curry to chili pepper. It was merchandise from the family company.

"I love it! Thank you!" He yelled, pulled Ciel into a hug. 

"This is why I don't need the coupons." He muttered, but was ignored.

They continued to open their other presents. 

From Lizzy, they both got a framed picture of the three of them, taken last summer. 

From Baldroy, Ciel got several books on American history. He put them aside for later.

From Mey Rin, he got a sweater with cats on it. 

From Finny he got a flower in a small pot, and a set of scented soaps. The card said "because you deserve the calm and satisfaction that scented soaps bring."

From Sebastian there was money. Useful yet impersonal. Ciel wasn't exactly surprised.

From Tanaka there was a watch. "Every young man should have a good watch." the note read.

Finally he got to Lau's present. Curious, he opened it. Inside was a thin wooden bracelet, covered in elaborately carved designs. It was the same style as many of the things in Lau's office. There was no note with it, but he got the feeling that Lau had made it himself. He didn't know where he'd wear such a thing, but it was truly beautiful. He found himself tracing the designs with his finger. 

Later on, he and Soma went out for dinner with their friends. Lau and Ran Mao were out of town until the twenty seventh. No one really knew why or where they went. Ciel wore the bracelet none the less.

***

A few streets away, Alois was in a significantly worse mood. The thing about having gone through shit is you can't decide when the nightmares will be, when the flashbacks will hit, when you won't be able to get out of bed. And that's just where he was. At seven pm. he was curled up in bed wanting to die. 

Not only that, but he was alone. Claude had left the apartment on some sort of business. He never said what. 

Much to his shock, there was a knock on the door. Wrapped in a blanket, he dragged himself off the bed (which was actually a couch), and went to open the door.

"What are you doing here?" He asked Hannah accusingly when he opened the door. 

"What are you doing here?" She asked back.

"I live here."

"Oh."

After a pause, she spoke up again. "So...can I come in?"

Alois glared, but his curiousity got the better of him. "Fine, but don't expect me to be nice."

Leaving the door open, he flounced back to his couch. His flounce had less effect than usual though, as he was still wrapped in his blanket.

Ignoring his rudeness, Hannah followed him in. 

***

Soma had gone home, and Ciel was left alone in his room. Looking for things to do, he suddenly remembered the book Lau had let him borrow. After a few minutes of searching, he found it.

"Why not?" He asked under his breath. Curling up on the couch, he began to read.

After the first chapter, he was hooked. After about an hour, he made himself a cup of tea. He stayed up for the next two hours finishing it. As he read, he absentmindedly played with the bracelet on his wrist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my main fic, but when I need a change I've been writing some lil ficlet things. If any of you are feeling the Lau/Ciel ship and have prompts or ideas of things you'd like to see in writing, feel free to let me know! Anyways, thanks for reading, love you all!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which soup is a weirdly big theme.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to everyone who's reading, and thanks to my beta who's a lifesaver.

Of all the things Alois might have expected when Hannah came knocking at his door, her making a pot of soup was not one of them.

"Tomato or chicken noodle?" She asked, rifling through the cupboard.

He glared before deciding that he actually kind of could go for soup, and answered that he wanted chicken noodle.

She put the contents of the can in a pot, and set it on the stove. Alois spoke up.

"So, what are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to Claude. To tell him that whatever he wants from you, he needs to stop. I'm not going to let him do what he always does."

"Which is?"

Hannah turned around. "He uses people. I know you haven't figured that out yet, but you will. I just want you to figure it out before it hurts you. Is there anything he might want, like money?"

Alois looked at her defiantly. "Of course not! All he wants is me. You're probably just jealous, anyhow."

"Are you sure there's nothing that he'd want?"

Against his will, he briefly remembered how Claude had kept asking about the will, ever since they heard about his foster father's death three months ago. Not wanting to dwell on that thought, he pushed it to the back of his mind.

"Why do you care so much? I'm just your student."

Hannah ladled his soup into a bowl and brought it to the couch. "Because I know you. And I knew your brother. You aren't just a student to me."

He looked up in shock. "What? How?"

"When I was going through university, I didn't have much money. I had a lot of part time jobs. One of them was babysitting. I used to hate it. I never really liked kids, you know. But then I met your brother. He was six, but he was the best person I ever knew. He loved you so much. I didn't see you as much, but sometimes you played with us. When they died, it broke my heart. I wanted to tell you how much he meant to me, but you just disappeared. When your name showed up on my class list, I didn't know what to think. But I won't let you get hurt."

Alois's lip quivered. He hated talking about his brother, it hurt so much. Still, it was true. He remembered the girl who had been there every Saturday night when their parents went out. He just hadn't made the connection until now.

"You don't have to believe me about Claude right now. I'll figure something out." She continued. "Just eat your soup, ok?"

Too tired to do anything else, Alois curled up and did as she asked. A few minutes later she left. He fell asleep right after, and this time, there were no nightmares.

***

Ciel hated that he hadn't stopped thinking about Lau in a week. Out of all the people for him to have stuck in his head, it had to be someone like that. Someone who dressed like that. Someone who was such a colossal idiot at times.

Still, despite how he dressed, he was attractive. And despite how idiotic he sometimes acted, he could be surprisingly insightful. He was interesting and complicated and wonderful and Ciel just couldn't stop thinking about him.

The fact that he hadn't seen him since before Christmas made it even worse. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. That seemed to be true in this particular case, at least.

Lizzy was still at home, and Soma was with Baldroy and his friends. As a result, Ciel had peace and quiet for the first time in a while. 

New Year's Eve was the next day. Surprisingly, Ciel didn't have plans. Lau hadn't shown up since he had got back wherever he had been.

Ciel figured he'd probably just hang out in his room. Or maybe he'd go see Lau. When he thought of seeing him again, after their moment on the day of Grell's party, he felt strangely apprehensive. Would he acknowledge it, or would he pretend nothing happened? He hadn't decided yet. All he knew was every time he closed his eyes, he saw Lau's face, eyes piercing and snowflakes in his eyelashes.

Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind as best he could, he finished a few of his assignments and headed to bed. When he woke up, he wasn't any closer to a decision than he was the night before.

He tried to focus on his work, but he had a hard time concentrating. Even by evening, he was still thinking about his teacher. He felt like he should do something, but he was scared that whatever he did would be the wrong thing. What if he had read the signals wrong? It seemed impossible, yet his anxiety wouldn't go away.

His internal debate continued until eleven thirty at night. Already, people were counting down towards the new year. Suddenly, the phone rang.

"Lizzy? What is it?" He asked.

"Have you seen Lau since he got back?"

"No, why?"

"We all know there's something going on between you two. I also know that you're not going to do anything about it if you keep overthinking it. If you're going to make a move, make it cute. For my sake, Ciel. It's almost midnight. Stop overthinking it, go over there, and kiss him."

"What if he gets mad or something, Lizzy I can't just-"

She cut him off. "You can and you will. Otherwise you'll regret it. C'mon, I need a cute love story to root for, God knows I don't have my own."

"What about Mey-"

She shushed him. "Never mind that. Just get over there and make your move. After that, it's out of your hands. I'll see you tomorrow at the bus station." With that, she hung up.

Acknowledging that ignoring her might lead to him being impaled with a fencing sword, besides that he kind of had been wanting to kiss Lau for a long time anyways, he grabbed his coat and headed out the door. At the last minute, he grabbed the book he had borrowed to return it.

Not many people were outside, probably since it was eleven forty, and everyone was either inside with their family or at some sort of party. 

Exceptionally talented at procrastination, Ciel managed to make what was normally a five minute walk take fifteen minutes. Eventually, he could drag his feet no more. He was at Lau's house.

After being let in by Ran Mao, he found Lau sitting at his desk in his study. 

"I brought back your book. It was pretty good, actually. I can't stay long, but if you want to talk about it sometime..."

Lau stood up and walked around to the front of his desk. 

"Certainly. I have so many thoughts on it that we could share. However, I must ask. What book are we talking about?" He laughed lightly at Ciel's expression. "Just kidding, no need to blow a fuse. Thanks for bringing it back, how very responsible. Odd time to bring it though. No parties, I take it? No one to kiss at midnight?"

Ciel considered his options, and decided to take the option of being smooth, like something out of a movie. Conveniently, at that moment, an old clock on Lau's wall chimed midnight.

"I do, actually."

"Who?"

Before he could stop himself, Ciel stood on his toes and pulled Lau into a kiss. Lau froze for a moment before letting his hands rest on Ciel's waist. 

It was softer than he had expected. Lau kissed back gently, almost tentatively. 

Ciel's heart wouldn't stop pounding. He'd never felt like this because of one kiss, and he never wanted to stop. Still, he wasn't quite ready to take this further yet, so he broke the kiss, catching his breath. As he pulled away, Lau made a soft sound of disappointment.

"I'll see you around." He said breathlessly, before walking out the door. Ran Mao watched him curiously as he left. This time, he'd be the one making the abrupt exit. The next move was up to Lau.

As he walked back, he pressed his fingers to his lips. He could still feel a ghost of the kiss.

***

Lizzy was happy to be going back, really she was. She couldn't wait to see her friends. She had missed them terribly, even in the short amount of time that they'd been parted. They had a very close bond.

Still, she couldn't shake the anxiety of what to do about her relationship with Mey Rin. She thought the girl was great, all right, but her feelings were entirely platonic. She didn't want to ruin their friendship, but every moment they spent together, she felt like she was lying in some way. 

It wasn't a long bus ride, so by the time they pulled into the station she still didn't have a solution. Still, seeing Soma waving enthusiastically and Ciel acting as though he was too cool to get excited, yet looking excited none the less, did wonders to improve her mood. Grabbing her carry on bag, she ran down to meet them. 

Running over, she pulled them into a group hug. Ciel squirmed until they let him go.

"How is it at home? How's Aunt Francis?" He asked.

"It's wonderful, I had such a great time. Francis is great, she wants to know that you're keeping up in your studies. I didn't tell her about your little stint with cheating, you can thank me for that later. But enough about me, how was your Christmas? How have you guys been?"

Unable to help himself, Soma blurted it out. "Ciel kissed the teacher guy!"

"Lau?" 

"Shut up."

She pulled him into another hug. "You took my advice! I'm so glad! Tell me everything!"

"Ugh, it was nothing really. I went over at midnight, I kissed him, I left. I haven't seen him since."

"Well, did he kiss back?"

"...yes."

Ciel winced as his friend squealed. They continued to ask for details, such as whether there was tongue, and he begrudgingly answered.

After the subject was worn out, Lizzy asked another question. "Have you heard from Sebastian lately?"

Ciel scowled at the ground. "No, why should I?"

Lizzy shrugged, not wanting to push the subject. "I just think maybe you should call him. You don't have to forgiven him for whatever you're mad about, just make some peace, you know?"

"I will not! He hasn't done anything to fix things, and it's his damn fault. Why should I be the one to do it?!" He exclaimed, kicking a chunk of ice in his path. He proceeded to swear when he stubbed his toe on the ice. 

Lizzy let the subject drop. The siblings would work out their issues eventually. It just needed time. 

To cheer him up, Lizzy convinced him to go out to dinner with them. Soma chose a place that apparently sourced good curry, and so they all headed there together. By desert, Ciel's mood had improved significantly. 

"And so Professor Spears called me a, and I quote, a 'perpetually late imbecile.' I was just trying to get my coffee! I didn't ask to be insulted in the line. Besides, I've only been late to his class like thirteen times. What's that guys problem?" Soma babbled.

"Yes, I'm sure it's irrational to be annoyed by the thirteenth time." Ciel deadpanned.

"Hey! Don't take his side, Ciel! You're supposed to be my best friend!"

"Right. My bad."

Lizzy broke in. "When you guys are done arguing, can we go shopping? I didn't get to buy anything new over the whole break."

Ciel and Soma noted her words, and continued arguing. Lizzy contented herself with a few minutes of window shopping on their way home.

***

Alois was hungry. This was odd, since he often had a very small appetite. Of course, the rare time he was hungry was the rare time that no snack food was to be found.

"Clauude. Do we have any soup?" He called from the couch.

"Yes."

"Can you make me some?"

"Make it yourself."

He groaned, and dragged himself to the kitchen. Standing on a chair, he found a can of tomato soup on the highest cupboard. He briefly remembered Hannah's visit. He still didn't know what to make of it. He didn't know how he felt about her. There had been a time that he hated her, but now? Everything was too complicated, there was too much history. There were things he didn't want to remember. 

Abruptly, he cut off his train of thoughts and grabbed the can. After putting back the chair, he got out a pot. Suddenly he realized he didn't have the slightest clue how to make soup. 

He looked up a YouTube tutorial. It was significantly simpler than he anticipated. 

Following the instructions, he emptied the can's contents into the pot and set it to boil on the stovetop. He watched it intently. This was his first time making soup, he couldn't afford to ignore it and burn the house down. He would take great care to do it right, the first time and every time afterwards.

When it was ready, he checked that everything was perfect. It was, and he was so proud. Everything might be crazy in his life, but this was a small victory. This was a success. 

It was only half an hour later that he realized he still had an almost full pot of soup to use up.

"Clauuude. Want some soup?"

***

"Stop groaning Ciel. We have to go back to class tomorrow too, you don't see us complaining."

Soma took that moment to let out a long groan.

"Fine, you don't see me complaining." Lizzy corrected.

Ciel scowled. "Since when have you ever complained about anything?"

Lizzy smiled. "That's true. Maybe you should try following my lead."

"I'm not wearing pink."

"But it would be cute-"

"Lizzy!"

At that second, Baldroy, Mey Rin, and Finny burst into the room. They were accompanied by a dog. 

"I named her Emily!" Finny yelled, grinning. The dog started barking enthusiastically.

Ciel winced. Lizzy and Soma, however, went to start petting the dog, much to both the dog's and Finny's delight.

"Why is it always my room?" Ciel muttered under his breath. No one actually heard him, because Emily the dog had not stopped barking.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I introduce a very odd plot point: baking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is walking a fine line between being serious and adressing real issues, and being complete crack. Take it as you will. Also, you can assume everyone in this is bi unless I state otherwise.

School started up again, and the opportunity for Ciel to see Lau again came with it.

However, things did not go entirely as planned. 

Ciel tried to make eye contact every class, but Lau determinedly stared anywhere but at him.

He tried to catch him after class, but he always left faster than what should have been humanly possible.

Whenever he saw him in public, he seemed to walk in the other direction. 

When he phoned him, it went right to voicemail.

When he visited his house, Ran Mao claimed he wasn't home. Ciel wasn't taking that bullshit for an answer.

"Why is he avoiding me?" He asked, standing in the doorway.

Ran Mao just shrugged, and proceeded to close the door in his face. He scowled and kicked the doorstep to vent his frustrations.

Ciel was confused. All the signals had been that Lau wanted the kiss. He had even kissed back, and seemed to like it, too. So why was he acting so weird now? 

He got more and more irritable until his friends started to notice that he was more sarcastic and bitter than his usual amount.

"Ciel, when are you going to tell us what's wrong?" Soma asked. "We just want to help, you know. We're your best friends."

"Ugh." 

"Is that all you're going to say?"

Ciel looked at his friend disdainfully. He was too bitter to play nice. He used to always be able to find Lau in the Noah's Arc Café. Of course, now that he actually wanted the menace of a man around, he was no where to be found. 

Who was he supposed to share his sarcastic comments with now? Who would take the conversation from normal and boring to absolutely bizarre but interesting? Who would spout off a Chinese proverb without context, and never translate, leaving them all wondering what he had said? Ciel just didn't know. And until he did, his mood would remain bitter.

Soma, however, would not be deterred. "What's wrong? Come on, Cieeeel. How can I help if I don't know what's wrong?"

"You don't have to help, really I'm fine-"

"Cieeeel."

"Stop."

"Cieeeel."

"We're in public."

"Cieeeel!"

"It's not a big deal!"

Soma banged his fist on the table. "If it's upsetting you, it is a big deal! Come on, you can tell me anything! Let me help you!"

Ciel gave up, if only to shut up his enthusiastic friend. Not, of course, that anything was bothering him. Never mind, he couldn't even convince himself of that lie.

"It's really not a big deal, I'm just wondering where Lau has been. Like, I don't care or anything. Stop grinning like that! Anyways, he's been avoiding me since we kissed and I don't know why and I-"

Soma interrupted. "This calls for a friendship meeting. I'll tell everyone to meet us at your room tonight! Don't worry, we'll solve this, Ciel. You can do anything with teamwork!"

With that, he ran off, presumably to find their friends and let them know the plan. Ciel groaned. No one ever took into account whether he wanted to be involved in plans. No one.

***

 

Ciel had not been expecting Soma to roll a whiteboard on wheels into his room, along with a bag of dry erase markers. By the time the four other friends had entered the room, there was limited space.

"How did you even get that thing? Why did you even get that thing?" Ciel asked incredulously.

"It's Baldroy's. He uses it for his plans." Lizzy answered.

Baldroy was known for making elaborate plans. He usually committed to seeing them through, however it didn't always end well for anyone. When he got the planning gleam in his eye, his friends had learned to stay away for the next week or so. 

Unfortunately, he had that gleam right now, and there was nothing Ciel could do because he was central to this particular plan.

After a few minutes, they had rearranged enough of the room for them all to fit in comfortably. Or at least, as comfortably as possible.

Soma began writing on the whiteboard. He wrote Ciel's five step plan to seducing his teacher in a messy scrawl, and underlined it. Lizzy proceeded to convince him to let her do the writing.

"Why five steps? Have you even figured out the steps yet?" Ciel asked.

"Nah, but they're not permanent markers. We can edit." Soma answered. "Okay, now I need everyone's attention. This is a big deal, guys. Ciel's love life is at stake."

"This is especially serious, because with his attitude, who knows how long it'll be 'til he finds someone else who can stand him." Lizzy broke in.

"Hey!"

"At least he's pretty." Baldroy spoke up.

Since no one was letting him defend himself, Ciel slouched down in his seat with an expression of pettiness.

Soma continued from where he'd left off. "As we all know, Lau's been avoiding Ciel. Therefore, for zany seduction to take place, they need to spend time together. What's a way to get them to spend time together? Brainstorm, guys."

"What are his interests? Does anyone know?" Lizzy asked.

"He likes baking." Baldroy commented.

Ciel glared. "I swear to god, if that's a joke about drugs, I will-"

Baldroy rushed to defend himself. "No, no I'm serious-"

"I wanted to know what he was going to do." Soma whispered.

"-he actually does like baking. Kind of weird, honestly. Like you wouldn't expect it from him, but really, what can you expect from him. He's a strange man."

"So how do we use this?"

"There's a baking competition at Massey college. It's at the end of March, I think. Ciel can tell him that someone bet him he wouldn't win, and he needs to win the bet, and to do that he needs lessons. It's not even unrealistic, he would do that over a bet." Lizzy suggested.

"Hey!"

"Shush. I'm not wrong."

Soma nodded enthusiastically. "Love it." he said, writing down Step 1) Convince Lau to give baking lessons.

"What's step two, then?" Ciel asked.

"Step two is initiate physical contact during lessons." Soma answered, writing down the step as he talked.

"Step three should be to make him jealous. Bring up other possible love interests." Mey Rin suggested. Nodding, Soma wrote it down.

"Step four is to do something outside of the lessons with him. I know you do anyways, but you haven't since before New Years. Initiate hanging out again." Lizzy said. This was also added to the list.

"Step five, show some skin. Wear something more revealing than you usually do." Baldroy said. "It shouldn't be hard." he added, glancing at Ciel's oversized jumper.

"Step six, have a serious conversation with him. Tell him something special or private. Have a deep moment." Lizzy offered. Grumbling, Soma erased the five and corrected it to Ciel's six step plan to seducing his teacher. 

"Right, that should be it." Soma said, putting away the marker. "Start following these steps, and if it doesn't work, at least we tried. Also, no chickening out. We'll be checking in to make sure you're following the plan. Also, we're leaving the whiteboard here."

Ciel protested, to no avail. Everyone ignored him, and proceeded to leave. Sighing, he went to look up the details about the baking competition.

***

"So, this is our two month anniversary. It's nice that we're going out, doing something for it..." Mey Rin mentioned, breaking the silence.

They were sitting at a corner table in one of the nicer restaurants in the area. There was soft lighting and some sort of classical music playing just loudly enough to be heard, but not so loud as to be overpowering.

"It is. It's been fun with you. More than I expected, I guess."

"It's been really fun. See, I really like you, Lizzy. So I guess I have something to tell you-"

Mey Rin was interrupted by the waiter coming to take their orders. Lizzy ordered a salad, and Mey Rin ordered some sort of pasta dish.

"What were you saying?" Lizzy asked.

"Well, I guess I was saying, I've been wanting to tell you-"

They were interrupted again by a waitress tripping and spilling water on their table. After the tablecloth was changed, she tried again.

"I know it's early, but I just wanted to say-"

The waiter brought the bread dish. Mey Rin, however, was not to be stopped. 

"I love you!" She exclaimed with slightly more enthusiasm than was necessary. 

Lizzy and the waiter both froze. The waiter, wide eyed, backed away slowly. Lizzy, on the spot, did the only thing she could think to do. 

"Thanks..." She said, pointing finger guns at Mey Rin.

They both stared at each other. The tension was quickly increasing. Clearly, finger guns weren't working to diffuse the tension. Lizzy went to plan B. 

"Hey so I just remembered, left the tap on back home, gottagobye!" She said in a rush, putting on her coat and making a beeline to the exit. She didn't look back, but if she had, she would have seen a very confused looking Mey Rin.

Not knowing where else to go, she headed to Ciel's. 

"I'm coming, I'm coming, I'M COMING!" She heard from behind the door as she knocked loudly. Seconds later, it opened to a frazzled looking Ciel, amid piles of open textbooks.

"I have three assignments due in a week." He clarified when she raised her eyebrows. "What are you doing here? I thought you had a date or something."

At that, she burst into tears. Ciel looked stricken. 

"Just, uhm, come in." He sat her down and patted her shoulder awkwardly. "There, there. Want to talk about it? I have no idea what I'm doing, help me out here."

Lizzy told him about the evening, and her escape, and how Mey Rin probably hated her now, and how she was probably a terrible, unfeeling person, before he stopped her.

"It's okay, lots of people feel overwhelmed when someone says that to them. There's nothing wrong with not being ready to say it back. Just go tell her that you aren't ready for that, but you still like her. I'm sure she'll understand." He said, still patting her shoulder.

Lizzy sniffed. "Do you really think so?"

He smiled back. "I know so. C'mon, you can fix it tomorrow, everything will be okay. Want to do some online shopping while I work on psych.?"

Lizzy wiped her tears and smiled. "I guess I could just look at a few new designs..."

Rolling his eyes affectionately, Ciel passed her the laptop. "Knock yourself out." He said, sitting on the floor and returning to his textbook.

***

Alois had done something all by himself again. This time, it was more than just soup. This time, it was a whole meal.

Okay, so it was just chicken nuggets, boiled potatoes, and frozen peas. Nothing you'd see on master chef or whatever those shows were. Still, he was proud. He was also excited, because he had made it for him and Claude, and Claude would be so proud. He couldn't wait for him to get home.

The door slammed, and Alois quickly checked that his hair was fashionably messy, and his shorts were adequately short, before sliding into the hall to greet Claude. Sliding being the term used, because the floors were newly polished, and his knee socks were extremely slippery.

"Clauuuude! Guess what I did?" 

Claude raised his eyebrows. "If it's something illegal, you're not staying here."

Alois laughed. "Silly Claude, of course not. Stop joking around. No, I made you dinner!"

He seemed less enthused by the dinner than Alois had anticipated, but still. He was proud of himself, and he knew that deep down, Claude was too.

"You're proud of me, right? Like, I've never made a meal before and I just think it's really cool and you're not paying attention and I just-"

Claude looked up disdainfully. "Have you ever, for once in your life, been quiet?" 

Alois's eyes filled with tears, against his will. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I was just really excited! You're not going to throw me out, are you?" He went to the other side of the table and flung his arms around the older man. "Please, Claude! You can't leave me! You're all I-"

He paused to choke. Quieter, he continued. "You're all I have."

Claude stroked his hair gently, calming him. "Hush. I'm not going anywhere. Stop making a fool out of yourself."

Alois had almost completely calmed down when Claude spoke up again. "Have you heard anything about your inheritance yet?"

Claude didn't understand why Alois started to cry again.

***

Ciel had a talent for procrastination. As a result, by the time he knocked on Lau's door with the plan in mind, it was almost the end of January, Lizzy had made up with Mey Rin, and Alois had tripped him twice and poured vinegar in his water bottle once. The vinegar thing was creative, at least.

Oddly enough, it was Lau that opened the door, not Ran Mao.

They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment before Ciel made his move. 

"I need your help."

Lau shrugged, and held the door open for him. In his head, Ciel let out a small cheer. He had made it this far. So far, so good.

"So what do you need help with, Sky boy? Getting your dick up? I suppose I'd be good at helping with that-"

"No, you absolute menace. I made a bet with Baldroy, I need help winning it." Ciel answered. It was as if they hadn't spent most of a month apart, their banter came so naturally.

Lau laughed softly. "You're always making these bets, someday you'll get into trouble."

"You're one to talk. You make as many bets as I do. Now, are you going to help me or not?"

Lau looked at him intently, seemingly thinking. Ciel squirmed, being put on the spot like that. 

"Well?" He asked, when the silence stretched on for too long.

"I could help you,  
I suppose. Fine. It would be kind of rude of me not to, huh? What's the bet, then?"

Ciel spun his story about Baldroy making the bet, and how he had to win this baking competition.

"It's at the end of March and I've never baked in my life, so Baldroy was a good sport and told me to get help from you. Are you down?"

Surprisingly, given how much effort he'd put into avoiding Ciel, he agreed with no argument. Mentally, Ciel checked off step one from the list.

They started making plans about when their first lesson would be, with comments from Ciel such as "I swear, you better teach this better than you teach philosophy." 

However, they were interrupted by music coming from the upper floor. It sounded halfway between an American harpsichord and a blues guitar.

"What's that?" Ciel asked, looking at the ceiling.

"Ah, Ran Mao must be practicing. She played the Konghou, it's a beautiful instrument."

"Has she ever performed anywhere? She seems very good." 

"Yes, my sister is talented, isn't she?" Ciel no longer questioned the sister thing. She deserved the title sister more than Sebastian deserved the title brother, that was for sure. 

Lau continued before he could ponder too deeply on the subject of what made someone a true brother or sister.

"She has a recital in two weeks, actually."

Step four was to do something with him, outside of the lessons. Perhaps this was the perfect opportunity.

Ciel cleared his throat. "Any chance I could come watch? Not that I want to spend time with you, or anything-" Lau raised his eyebrows. "-but I wouldn't mind seeing her in concert, if she's this talented when she practices."

"Nothing stopping you. Why not? Meet me here at six-ish on February twelfth. How's that sound?" He asked lightly.

Ciel nodded. "Sounds good. So, erm, I'll just go then. See you soon."

He showed himself to the door, but as he left, Lau called out.

"First lesson, February fourth! Come over after class." 

"Right, I'll be here!" Ciel answered, before heading home. So far, the plan was off to a good start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, love you all, especially my beta who's #1, and the person that's been commenting a lot, I love reading them and knowing that you're reading and enjoying. Y'all are great. Also, sorry I say y'all so much, I'm not even American what am I doing.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I give Hannah a girlfriend for absolutely no plot relevance, just the fact that I wanted her to have a girlfriend and I'm very self indulgent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry if this seems a bit late, I've been feeling a bit down this past week so the chapter took longer than normal. Don't worry, I'm not giving up on this fic or anything though. The next chapter should be posted by tomorrow to make up for the lateness anyways.

Alois had talked to Hannah in his house. Well, Claude's apartment, but really, same thing. He'd talked to her in class. He'd talked to her in a bar. However, he had never talked to her on a park bench. There were always opportunities to try new things, though.

"Are you saving this seat for anyone?" She asked, gesturing to the rest of the bench.

Taking his shrug for a no, she sat down beside him, and pulled a sandwich out of a brown paper bag.

"Here. Have half. You're too skinny, anyways." 

"Excuse me, I'm not too skinny! I have an excellent ass, I'll have you know-"

Hannah interrupted, a small smile on her face. "Just eat it."

Too cold to put too much energy into arguing, he took a bite. It wasn't anything special, just egg salad. Still, he was hungry. It didn't take him long to finish.

"Why are you sitting here? It is March, you know. Rather cold, don't you think?" She asked.

Alois glared. He liked the sandwich, but he wasn't about to have some heart to heart with her, even if she had known his brother and all that.

"None of your business. Watching ducks. I don't know. Shut up."

"In March."

"Yes."

"Don't see a lot of ducks in March."

"Because they're scared of you. They're hiding." He retorted, petty as ever.

Hannah let out a huff of laughter. "Of course, my mistake."

After a pause, she spoke up again. "Of course, if you were here because you wanted to be out of the apartment, you could hang out at my place. Old times sake, plus I have hot chocolate."

Alois made a show of deciding it, before agreeing. It wasn't like he was going to turn down hot chocolate, and maybe he was trying to stay out of the apartment. He had started thinking that maybe Claude was too worried about his inheritance, and he didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to even consider it. If he wasn't talking to Claude, it was easier to block it out of his mind.

"Fine. But only for the hot chocolate, not your old times sake or whatever." He said as disinterestedly as possible.

"Right you are. Come on, it's just a few minutes to walk there." She said, getting up.

It was odd for Alois, seeing Hannah now, in comparison to how she looked and dressed when he knew her years ago.

Back when he was younger, her wardrobe had been that of a modern day Joan Jett. A mixture of 80s rocker lesbian, and Hot Topic haute couture. The embodiment of teenage rebellion.

Alois found himself wondering how she had managed to get all the babysitting jobs she did. She hadn't exactly looked like the ideal middle class role model.

It was perhaps because of this that he had taken so long to figure out who she was. After all, her look these days had gone and done a hundred and eighty degree flip.

Now, she wore an expensive looking plum coloured pea coat, as well as professional slacks and well made leather boots. Her hair was the only thing that had stayed the same. To this day, it was plaited in a braid that seemed miles long, and dyed an unnatural shade of lavender. It suited her, though. It looked like the lilac blooms in the spring, or a soft sunset through mist.

Alois didn't think about it in nearly as cultured a sense. He mainly just thought of it as her getting "less cool". He also wasn't afraid to voice this thought to her. She only chucked. 

The thing that annoyed him so much was that he could never get a good reaction out of her. Oddly though, it seemed different than Claude's lack of reaction. He did it out of indifference. She did it out of patience. Still, it would be nice if she reacted once and a while, he thought to himself.

True to her word, the walk was only a few minutes, and they shortly arrived at her apartment. Alois flung himself down on her couch as she prepared the hot chocolate.

"Want any whipped cream?" She called over her shoulder.

"What kind of dumb question is that?! Whipped cream, obviously. Duh."

After getting his hot chocolate, he asked a question he had been wondering for a while.

"What were you doing at that bar, anyways? You know, when you saw me and Claude?"

"What, I can't have a good time?" She asked, smiling.

"Hah. No but really, it didn't seem like your kind of place. Were you meeting someone?" He asked, nosy as always.

"If you must know, I was on a date. However, they had to cancel."

Alois let out a few wolf whistles before grilling her for the details. "With who? Male or female? Old or young? Are they cute? Was it a first date? Is it serious?"

"Ugh, slow down. Let's see. With my girlfriend, it's sort of serious, she's a year younger than me, and no it wasn't a first date. I think that was all the questions." She answered diligently. 

Alois continued to ask for more details for the next half hour. Eventually, the conversation got more serious.

"Have you thought about what I told you?" Hannah asked.

He shrugged. "Sort of. Maybe it's true. I just...I don't want it to be, you know? If he's just using me, then what if that's all I'm good for? He's the only person that's taken care of me or loved me and I just..." He wiped a tear away. "I just don't want that to be a lie. Is that so bad?"

Hannah pulled him into a hug. "Shh. It's okay. I understand why you feel that way. You don't need to do anything right away. Just, be ready, in case you end up needing to move out or something. Get a job, okay? I'll look and see if there's any openings nearby. While I do that, maybe you could learn to do things like cook, or laundry."

Alois grinned through his tears. "One step ahead of you there." 

***

"I'm not wearing that."

Ciel glared at both Lau and the garment he was offering. The apron was pink, frilly, feminine. Altogether, the kind of thing Lizzy would love and he wouldn't be caught dead in.

"Hey, I'm giving the lessons. I say it's a rule that you have to wear it!" Lau protested.

"Why?! That's not a good rule, you can't make me-" 

As it turned out, he could make him. And he did. Moments later, there was a particularly grouchy Ciel, forced into the offending apron. 

Lau smirked. "Don't look at the milk like that, it'll probably curdle."

Ciel turned his sullen look towards Lau instead, who only seemed amused by it.

"Okay, so what do you know about baking?"

Ciel coughed. "I, well, erm..."

Lau raised his eyebrows. Ciel gave in. "Fine, I know absolutely nothing about it. If you're going to make fun of me, get on with it."

Lau put on a show of looking offended. "Me? Make fun of you? I'm shocked. As if I would do such a thing..." Ciel glared, before Lau continued. "Although I do have to wonder, why is it that you don't seem to know how to do anything?"

"And there it is. Anything else to say?"

He shrugged. "Nah, I think that's it. So, let's get started then. Do you know what you have to make for the competition?"

Ciel thought back to the instructions and rules he had seen on the website. "I think some kind of cake, with whatever ingredients are provided. They don't tell us the ingredients 'til we get there, though."

"We can practice cakes in general, so you're prepared for whatever ingredients they provide. Since you don't know anything-"

"Says you."

"-we'll start with a plain vanilla cake. Easy, don't you think?"

Ciel nodded, but halfway through the first step he decided that easy was not quite the word for it. "Why is it so hard to mix butter and sugar?! This would be so much easier if we just melted the butter. This is dumb."

Lau kept his face neutral, but his eyes were laughing. "It would be so much easier if you weren't so weak."

"Shut up, you."

"Also," he continued, "melting the butter could ruin the texture. You won't have melted butter in the competition, so you better get used to it."

Fortunately for Ciel, the more irritated he got, the more forceful he got, making the mixing significantly easier.

"So, I've learned that it's harder to pour baking powder than you might think." Ciel commented, looking at his handful of the powder.

"See, I told you to pour it over your hand. This is why I'm a good teacher." Lau offered helpfully.

After Ciel put the pan in the oven, he turned to Lau. "About you being a good teacher. At the start of the year, you implied you were going to do more actually teaching. Like, remember that whole speech? I don't think you kept any of the promises you made in that."

Lau shrugged. "Yeah, well, after I made the speech I realized it was more fun to annoy you."

Used to this kind of thing, Ciel just rolled his eyes. He would never admit it, but he was smiling to himself.

He stopped smiling when the kitchen filled with smoke. "And there's your second lesson of the day." Lau said, as Ciel coughed, fanning the air. "Never get distracted from watching the oven."

***

After they cleaned up the mess, Ciel tried again. It wasn't the fanciest cake, and it turned out a little lopsided, but there was no smoke. It would do, for the first lesson.

Ciel was about to leave when Lau called for him to stop. He turned around, to see him closer than he had realized. Lau reached for his waist and Ciel's breath quickened. Smirking, Lau pulled the tie of his apron. 

"Can't have you leaving with this." He said, pulling it off. Ciel glared, before heading out the door. If he got one more mixed signal, he was going to throw a fit.

***

The lessons were supposed to be weekly, but Lau wanted to help Ran Mao get ready for her recital. Therefor, they decided to have the second lesson be the day after her recital. On the day of, Ciel showed up at their house as planned.

Ran Mao opened the door. Her outfit was beautiful, but Ciel, lacking any sort of culture, could not put a name on it. He settled with giving her an awkward compliment about how it was a nice colour. She seemed pleased by his attention though, so he didn't worry about it.

He wasn't about to ask Lau for the correct terminology of the clothing. His pride was still smarting from being told that he didn't know anything.

Lau was found eating pasta. "Aren't we leaving in five minutes?" Ciel asked sceptically.

Lau shrugged. "I eat fast."

He proved this as Ciel looked on with disdain. Just because Ciel was in love, or whatever it was, didn't mean he couldn't judge him.

Pasta eaten, Lau got up and put on his jacket. He turned to Ciel. "By the way, you're helping me carry the Konghou."

"What? Why?"

"Unless, of course, you're too weak to do it-"

Ciel shot him a look. "Shut up, I didn't say I wouldn't. Where is it?"

After carrying it for a black, Ciel was considering admitting he was weak. The instrument was as heavy as it looked, and the sidewalk was icy.

"I swear to god, if I die because of this..." He muttered under his breath.

"So little faith in my ability to save you."

Much wheezing later, they got to the hall. They set the instrument down on the sidewalk while they caught their breath.

"I should go." Ran Mao said quietly to Lau, before picking up the Konghou and carrying it into the building as if it weighed nothing. 

Ciel pointed after her incredulously. "Why did you have us carry it then?!" He exclaimed.

"Carrying it long distances might hurt her fingers, she needs to be able to play." Lau answered without looking back, walking towards the hall. Ciel glared at his retreating back, before following.

Lau was dressed more casually than most in the audience, but there were no loud patterns, so Ciel counted his blessings.

"Where are we sitting?" He asked Lau.

"It's rush seats, so it doesn't matter. Let's sit here." He answered, heading towards the seats in the back left corner of the concert hall. 

"Why aren't we sitting closer to the front?" 

"Meh, it's cozier back here. C'mon."

They settled in their seats, just in time for the lights to dim. The first performer was a violinist, who blew the crowd away with what Ciel could recognize as Vivaldi's Winter. He could tell that there was a considerable amount of talent and hard work involved in this show. 

Next, there was a pianist, followed a flutist and someone with a harp. They were all incredibly talented, even though Ciel rarely knew what piece they were playing. When he noticed Lau falling asleep beside him, he kicked his ankle. 

"Ooh, getting a bit aggressive. I like that." Lau whispered suggestively. Ciel kicked him again, grateful that the dark room hid his blush. That is, it would have hid it if he had been blushing, which he absolutely, definitely, totally wasn't doing. At all.

However, when Ran Mao went onstage, he was wide awake. Ciel quickly realized that however good she had been while practicing, it was nothing compared to seeing her perform. Her fingers flew over the strings and filled the room with it's haunting melody. The audience watched in wide eyed rapture.

When the final crescendo ended, the audience burst into applause. Despite the other performer's talent, she was the favourite. And for good reason too.

The rest of the show flew by. At the end, they went to find Ran Mao backstage. Lau greeted her with a hug, while Ciel stood to the side uncomfortably. 

After she finished the hug with Lau, she went to hug Ciel. He was made uncomfortably aware of her low cut clothing. Quickly, he squirmed out of the hug.

They were stopped before they left by someone bringing flowers. Ciel realized that although he didn't talk to her that much, he'd grown attached to her and he was proud. 

***

Alois noticed the help wanted sign as he chose his iced tea from the industrial refrigerator. He proceeded to have a crisis about whether it was worse to have no job, or a job in a convenience store. 

Still, it would be a start. Smoothing his hair,he went to ask for the details at the counter. 

The pay was mediocre, but it was pay, it was work experience, and frankly he didn't have much else to do with his life. Maybe keeping busy would help keep the bad memories at bay.

He took an application form and filled it out. Before he could change his mind, he handed it in. 

When he got home, he considered telling Claude about his achievement, but decided not to. Nothing hurt pride like disinterest. 

Instead, he went to set the table for dinner. Tonight, he'd make lasagna. Maybe it would burn, but that would be okay. He'd just remember to do it differently next time. He was learning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Also, if you aren't into ocs, don't worry. As I said, Hannah's girlfriend has absolutely no plot relevance. I just felt like giving her a girlfriend.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are a lot of short scenes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry that this ended up being a day later than planned, anyways thank you so much for reading. Your comments and kudos are a huge inspiration.

Realizing that Ciel was completely inept in the kitchen, they changed the lessons to twice a week. Ciel didn't complain, since this meant the plan was going well. He was somewhat confused, since now Lau wasn't avoiding him and had gone back to his usual flirting, teasing self. However, he also didn't seem to be acknowledging their kiss. Ciel didn't know what to make of it, so he kept to the plan.

"This one didn't burn. My my, you're growing more talented every day."

Ciel glowered. "See, comments like that do nothing to help me improve."

"Actually, they encourage you to do better so I'll stop making them." Lau answered, grabbing ingredients for decorating out of his cupboard. "Now, let's see how your artistic skills are."

Ciel had no artistic skills. Even he could admit that. Still, he could tell by the look in Lau's eye that the man knew that too, and he was determined to prove him wrong.

With all the willpower he could muster, he made the best set of icing flowers he'd ever made. Even Lau couldn't make a mocking comment. When the finished cake looked passable, Ciel was filled with pride.

"See, my artistic skills are great, thank you very much." He said, smirking.

"Alright, alright. Good job and all, but you still need practice."

"Stop killing my buzz."

"Stop being arrogant."

"Stop eating my cake!" Ciel exclaimed, grabbing Lau's hand, which was in the process of dipping into the icing. Midway though the action, he realized this was step two. Initiate physical contact.

Some people thought that Ciel was shy, but he could flirt when he wanted to. Smirking, he looked at the icing on Lau's finger, before looking back up at the man.

"It's my cake. I made it. If anyone eats it, it should be me." He proceeded to pull Lau's hand up to his height, and lick the blob of icing off, all while maintaining eye contact.

Lau's breath hitched. It was subtle, but Ciel noticed.

"My ingredients." He finally responded, taking a forkful of cake, ruining any of Ciel's careful decoration.

"Hey!"

***

Lizzy simultaneously loved Valentines Day and hated it. On one hand, it was adorable and everywhere was filled with her favourite colour. On the other hand, the romance around every corner only reminded her what she was missing. 

The worst part was that Mey Rin didn't understand that. She had accepted that Lizzy wasn't ready to say "I love you" but she didn't understand what Lizzy was coming to realize. She might never be able to say it. Not truthfully, at least.

Still, she was determined to enjoy the good parts of the holiday. Already, she was wearing five shades of pink, and had bought both cupcakes and heart shaped cookies with Mey Rin. They had had fun, too. 

The romantic comedy they watched was funny enough that it distracted her from getting sad over it. 

The night was almost over, and everything was almost okay. That changed when Mey Rin kissed her and then looked at her with starry eyes, and she felt nothing. It was t terrible, but it just felt wrong. She just didn't love her, couldn't love her, and she was beginning to hate herself for it. 

For the rest of the night,she couldn't shake the feeling of emptiness inside her. 

***

Alois also had mixed feelings on Valentine's Day. As a child, he had loved it. Later, he had hated it. This was because it either increased his foster fathers affections towards him, or made him angry and more likely to lash out at him. He still wasn't sure which had been worse. 

He had been excited about it again, just like when he was a kid. It was an opportunity to have a romantic night with Claude. What could be better than that? 

But now his feelings were even more confused, because Claude wasn't home and Claude clearly didn't care about the holiday, even when he had been dropping hints for months about how much it meant to him. He was finding it harder to ignore the implications about what he meant to Claude.

Still, he was tired of sitting around and waiting. He was tired of moping. So he left, and went the only place he knew.

"What are you doing here?" Hannah asked when he knocked on the door. She didn't ask it unkindly, only with confusion. 

"Nothing. I don't have anything better to do. Whatever. Can I come in?" 

Raising her eyebrows, she let him in. "Isn't your girlfriend here?" He asked, looking around at the empty apartment."

"She just left. So, what do you want to do?"

Ignoring her question, he wandered around the living room. "I didn't know you played piano." He said, running his fingers over the keys of the instrument against the wall.

"I have for a long time. Do you want to learn to play?" She asked, coming over to it.

Alois shrugged in fake nonchalance. Even an hour later, when he could play through Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, he wouldn't admit how much he enjoyed it. Still, Hannah knew.

Alois started. "Oh, I almost forgot. I got a job."

***

There was nothing mixed about Ciel's feelings for the holiday. He hated it, and was always ready to give his speech about how it was based on commercialism at the drop of a hat.

He tried going to the Noah's Arc Café, but it was decorated with lacy hearts and confetti. Not only that, but the waiter Daniel was clearly on a mission to ask out the dark haired waitress, and Ciel wasn't in the mood to watch that trainwreck happen.

As a result, he ended up eating fried chicken while sitting on Lau's counter.

"Did you just put vinegar on your chicken?" Ciel choked out in disgust.

"Fun fact, if you mix vinegar and Coca Cola, it tastes like chlorine."

"That didn't answer my question, but okay. Sure. I'll take your word for it." He looked out the window. "Looks like a snowstorms starting up."

"You'll have to be careful walking home, you're so small it would be easy for you to get buried-"

"Shut it. I'm perfectly capable of getting home in the snow, I'm not a kid, Lau." 

Lau laughed. Ciel took his opportunity for step three. "Besides, if I did get lost or something, I'm sure I could find someone's house to hang out in 'til the storm ended. I am attractive after all, not many people would refuse to let me in."

Lau's eyes narrowed. "Yes, and I'm sure they'd be happy with no other payment than your company." He answered sarcastically. "Go ahead and get lost in the snow then, if those are the kind of people you want to wait out a storm with."

"You seem rather annoyed by a teasing comment. That isn't like you, Lau. Could you be jealous?" Ciel asked, never one to let things go.

"You seem to be jumping to that conclusion quickly. That might imply you're trying to make me jealous." Lau retorted. 

"That's not the point- wait, did you just put marmalade on your chicken?!"

The conversation lightened immediately as Lau continued to use an odd assortment of condiments, and was continuously judged by Ciel. However, Ciel could now confirm that Lau was jealous, and step three was complete.

***

The lessons continued. Four lessons later, almost all of Ciel's cakes looked passable, and some looked competition worthy. They also started branching out into other baked goods, all of which he was gaining a talent for making. Despite his rocky start, with a little practice he realized he was actually good at this. 

Besides that, he actually enjoyed it. It wasn't even just because Lau was there, although he definitely enjoyed that and the growing sexual tension that accompanied his presence. No, he was genuinely enjoying the baking. He'd be sorry when the competition was over.

"So, are you going to buy that, or are you just gonna stand there daydreaming all day?" A painfully familiar voice asked.

Ciel looked up incredulously. "What are you doing here?!"

Alois rolled his eyes. "Working, duh. Any more dumb questions, or are you planning on buying that?" he said, gesturing at the paper cup of coffee that Ciel was holding. "This isn't a restaurant, you know."

"I know it's not a restaurant, maybe if you stopped talking I could pay."

Alois smacked his gum. "Whatever you say."

Grumbling, Ciel handed over the money before facing the cold outside.

The snow was very deep by this time, and walking tended to be more like swimming through the drifts. Especially for someone as vertically challenged as Ciel.

So focused on watching where he stepped, he didn't notice Lau until he walked right into him, spilling his coffee all over him, and nearly spilling it on himself.

Lau made an indignant noise, looking down at his soaked shirt.

"Why weren't you looking where you were going?!"

"Why weren't you?! You could have avoided me. Now I don't have any coffee." He looked sadly at his empty cup.

"Yeah, and my shirt's ruined."

"Not an answer, also why aren't you wearing a jacket?" Ciel asked skeptically, noticing that he was only wearing a T shirt and didn't even seem cold.

Ignoring his question, Lau continued. "Come on, let's go back to my house. Our next lesson is in an hour anyways, and I can get changed."

"You better make me a new coffee." Ciel grumbled, following him.

***

 

As Lau went into his study to change shirts, Ciel sat down at the table.

"So, I've signed up for the competition. It's in a month. Do you think I'll be ready? I think I'm doing pretty well, if I say so myself." He called in the direction of the study. 

Anything else he had planned to say was forgotten when Lau walked out of the study. He had taken off the ruined shirt, but he hadn't put a new one on, that was for sure. Ciel gawked.

"What did you say?" Lau asked.

Ciel choked slightly. He had found the man reasonably attractive before, which was added to by his unfortunate emotional attachment to him. However, seeing this, he realized reasonably attractive didn't even cut it.

"When the hell did you get ripped?!" He asked incredulously, still staring.

Lau snickered, leaning on the counter in an ever so slight pose. "Just because you don't have muscles doesn't mean no one does."

"Shut up! I have muscles!" 

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Prove it."

Ciel rarely thought things through, especially when his pride was being threatened. "Arm wrestling. Right here, right now. Let's go."

Lau sat down across from him, and promptly beat him five times in a row. By the end of it, Lau was smirking and Ciel was slouched in his seat with a look that could kill.

"Don't be a sore loser-"

"Shut it, it's time for our lesson." 

Lau shrugged. However, he didn't stop smirking the rest of the evening. He also didn't put on a shirt. Ciel would have liked to say that he didn't check him out again, but that would be entirely untrue. He couldn't even tell himself that big a lie.

***

"Group meeting!" Soma announced. This was somewhat unnecessary, since those exact words were written in large blue letters at the top of the portable dry erase board.

"Why are we having this?" Ciel asked from his spot on the couch. "And more importantly, why are we having it here? Do none of you realize this is the smallest possible room? Also, why does the dog have to be here?"

"Hey! Emily has a place here, like everyone else." Finny exclaimed, hugging the dog in question.

"Right. Whatever. Continue, I guess. It's not like I can stop you."

"Quite right. I'm so glad you've come to terms with it." Lizzy answered.

Soma got back their attention. "We need a group meeting to check on the status of the plan. What step are you on?"

"I'm about to start step five."

"Ooh, that's the best one!" Lizzy squeaked. "We can make you look so hot!"

"Do we have to?"

"Step five is to wear something revealing. It's in the plan, you have to. Do you want his dick or not?"

"Okay, first of all, we're not talking about that. Second, I don't own anything revealing." Ciel said, eyeing his wardrobe.

Lizzy got a gleam in her eye. "Well, I guess that means-"

"Oh no..."

"-we have to go shopping!"

In record time, they were doing just that. Ciel refused to try on anything pink, or with sparkles. Lizzy was very open about her disappointment. 

"No dresses either."

"Why not?"

"We can't make the plan seem obvious. This has to be low key."

He also rejected the short shorts on the grounds that they seemed like something Alois would wear. 

Eventually, Ciel agreed to getting a shirt that hung off one shoulder, putting both said shoulder and his collarbone on display. Subtle, yet still eye catching. It was also blue, his best colour. He was also coerced into buying tighter jeans than he would ever normally choose himself. 

"There, that has sex appeal. Perfect." Baldroy commented as Lizzy checked over the outfit to make sure it was perfect.

"Excuse me?"

"What, that's what we're going for. Take the compliment."

Ciel gave one last glare before heading back into the changing room. He tossed the clothes over the door for Lizzy to buy. He had paid for her last time they went shopping. Now they were even.

They parted ways once the purchases were made. Ciel headed upstairs to put away the clothes for his next session at Lau's.

***

Lizzy managed to avoid Mey Rin for most of February. By the end of the month, she knew she had to do something. She had had high hopes that this would go well, but half an hour after they met at the Noah's Arc café, that didn't seem to be the direction it was going.

"Look, I really like you and I want to stay friends, I just don't think this is going to work-"

"But it was working perfectly! Did I do something wrong? It's my fault, I know it. Just, just say it is and get it over with." Mey Rin choked out through tears.

Lizzy looked on with both sympathy and guilt. "It's not your fault! Trust me, it's me-"

"Not you. Yeah, yeah, I've heard the line before."

"No really! Please, I really want to still be friends, I thought that I could make this work but I was wrong and I'm sorry-"

Mey Rin looked up, lip trembling. "What do you mean? Are you saying you never liked me in the first place?!"

Lizzy blushed. "No, well, maybe. I don't know, okay?! I'm just really sorry. Can we please, please, be friends?"

"If you wanted to be friends, you should have told me so from the start!" She exclaimed angrily, before leaving the café. Lizzy, overwhelmed, started to cry. 

However, she couldn't help but smile through her tears when the waiter made a bouquet of flowers appear out of thin air. Apparently he was into magic tricks.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ciel and Lizzy are both dealing with drama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter, woo! Anyways hope you're still enjoying. I'll hopefully be posting again tomorrow.

Baldroy and Finny were some of the nicest people you'd ever meet. For that reason, they weren't outright rude or cruel to Lizzy. Still, ever since her breakup with Mey Rin, there had been a tension there. She knew she wasn't welcome.

It was pretty clear they thought she was in the wrong, and she couldn't help feeling that they were right. She had been unfair to Mey Rin. Now, she just wanted her friends back. But they had been friends with Mey Rin longer, of course they were going to take her side. 

Not only that, but Ciel was never to be found. Even when he was around, his thoughts seemed preoccupied. She missed spending time with him, but she was also worried about him. He had so much that he was stressed about. She just wanted him to be okay.

Soma was also busy. He had befriended an older student and was now getting tutoring from him. Lizzy was happy for him, really she was. Still, she was bitter that she had to drink her tea by herself in the Noah's Arc café. Looking friendless wasn't cute at all.

"Man you've got a long face. What's buggin' ya? Want to talk about it? Want some of my cake? 'cause like I thought I could eat five different slices but apparently not." Molly said, flopping down onto the chair across from her. 

Lizzy raised her eyebrows. "Why did you get five slices of cake?"

"Well, we've introduced new flavours and I wanted to try them all out. Go big or go home, you know? Anyways, where's all your friends? Haven't seen them in a while."

Lizzy almost brushed the question off. Then, she realized this was just what she needed. Someone to talk to.

After that, the words flowed. She told her about the failed relationship with Mey Rin, and the loss of her friendship with Mey Rin, Finny, and Baldroy. She told her about her worries for Ciel and for herself. She told her about her fears abd the weight upon her shoulders. 

Molly listened patiently. At the end, she stood up. "Let's go."

"Where?"

"You've got a lot to deal with and we need a quick solution. We're going to the candy store, and then we're going to a movie. There's nothing candy and movies can't fix, at least temporarily."

Eating her favourite candies, watching an adventure movie, Lizzy had to admit she felt at least a little bit better.

***

To add realism, Baldroy ended up actually making a bet with Ciel on whether he'd win the competition. Between this and the fact that he kind of did want to win anyways, the baking lessons got more frequent and more intense.

With each lesson, his skill increased and Lau's laughter at his attempts decreased. However, they were so busy practicing every possible thing he could have to make, that their flirting slowed down and Ciel hadn't had a chance to go further with the plan.

However, this was okay. They still enjoyed every minute of the time spent together, even if they were busy for practically all of it. 

The month had flown by. Ciel had spent all his time with Lau, or keeping up with his schoolwork. Luckily he had extra time to work on things, since his philosophy class was basically a free period.

There were two more lessons left before the competition. The second last one was spent mostly going over the things he'd already learned.

"Remember, don't try to do things last minute. Plan your time carefully, no matter what task you're given. And if it ends up being to bake something basic, like a plain cake, try and make it special somehow. You need to be different from the other competitors. You need to be better." 

Ciel rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. Anything else?"

Lau shrugged. "I think that's all. If I think of anything else, I'll mention it during our last lesson."

Ciel felt a twinge of unease, remembering that there was only one lesson left. One more day to complete the plan. What if it didn't work, and Lau started avoiding him again, and he-

His thoughts were interrupted. "I'm getting pizza with Ran Mao, want to come?"

Ciel shrugged casually. "Sure, I guess. Now?"

"Yeah, get your coat." 

Five minutes later, they were walking down the sidewalk. It was a damp grey day, unsurprising given that it was March. Lizzy had been talking about how much she wanted spring to come, but Ciel found he kind of liked this weather. It was pretty, in its own way.

Lau smiled as Ran Mao ran ahead and jumped in puddles. She seemed to be having fun.

"So, what kind of pizza are you getting?" Ciel asked.

"Pineapple pizza."

"As in a Hawaiian?"

"No, just pineapple. Yourself?"

"I? Alright? I mean I'm getting my own kind but you do you, I guess." Ciel answered, not willing to pursue the subject of his love interest's food choices any more that necessary. 

The person at the counter didn't bat an eye at Lau's strange order. Ciel took it as a sign that this was one of his regular hangouts.

Ciel chose one of the white plastic tables, a classic fast food restaurant look, while Lau brought over the pizzas. They had only started eating when Ciel heard the voice that he had come to dread. "Man, this is a small town." he muttered.

Alois and his weird boyfriend sat down at the table next to them. As he chattered away loudly beside him, Ciel got increasingly irritated.

That might have been okay, but then Ciel got up to get napkins just as Alois came back with a tray of drinks, and the result was a collision.

"What the hell! You made me spill everything!" Alois yelled. The other people in the restaurant looked up curiously.

On edge about the competition and the possibility of losing Lau after it was over, Ciel reacted much more angrily than he normally would have. "You're the one that walked into me, you dumb shit! Don't go blaming me for your problems. If you need to blame anyone other than yourself, blame your parents for raising you like this." 

Alois flushed. "Excuse me?! That's coming from you, how am I supposed to take that seriously?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"As if you don't know. You rely on everyone else for everything. It's not like no one notices how you use your daddy's money for everything, and you don't even have to try in school because brother dearest will have a job the second you want it. You probably call a million dollars a small loan. You've never had to suffer a day in your life, and now your head's so far up your ass you can't see anything for how it is. If anyone was raised badly, it's you."

Ciel started to shake, but he wouldn't admit how hard those things hit. 

"How dare you say I've never suffered, you don't know anything about me-" he started to yell. The other customers seemed very interested at this point. Still, Alois wasn't done.

"All I did was try to be your friend, you're the one that started this. You're so stuck up. Couldn't you have been nice for once in your life?"

"As if. Who could blame me for not being able to stand you? Pretty sure even your boyfriend hates you. What is it he wants, money?" Ciel mocked, regaining his confidence. 

"I could ask you the same about our teacher over there. Is it a money thing, or is he just using you for sex?" 

The punch was thrown before Alois even knew what hit him. He promptly gave back as twice good as he got. 

Ciel was knocked back, dazed. Before he knew it though, Lau had appeared from behind them, and pinned Alois to the wall. Ciel had spent most of the year with the man,but he had never seen him look quite so deadly.

"Now, now, that wasn't very nice. I think you should apologize to Ciel. Otherwise, I might do something we both regret." He said with a glint in his eye. 

Alois started to blubber. He acted tough, but he was never very good under pressure. "Claude! Claude, help me! Please, I-"

Claude got up. Alois smiled at him, until he realized that he wasn't going to help. Instead, he started to walk away. "Help yourself. You got yourself into this, it's not my problem." He said over his shoulder.

Ciel felt a slight amount of sympathy, against his will. "It's alright. You can let him go, Lau. Let's just go."

Lau diligently dropped him, where he remained, crying on the floor. Despite being angry about the insults the blonde had hurled at him, he felt sorry for him. He was so pitiful, all alone. Before he could change his mind, he brought a couple of tissues over to him. 

"Here. Erm, I'm sorry. I hope you feel better? Anyways, sorry that got out of hand." He said awkwardly, before turning to leave.

As he and Lau walked home, Lau looked at him curiously. "That was nice of you. Especially after the things he said."

"He's wrong, saying that I haven't suffered. Still, I can tell he's suffered too. He was unfair, but so was I. Let it go."

"Are you okay?"

"He just hit me once, I'm fine."

Ran Mao appeared behind them. "There's more than one way to be hurt." She said.

"She's right." Lau agreed.

Ciel gave them both a small smile. "I'm fine, truly. I'm not so weak as to let some insults bring me down." 

Lau eyed him. "Of course. You are quite fascinating, you know that?"

"Hush. I don't need your nattering." He paused. "Thank you though, for defending me. It means a lot." 

Lau shrugged in response to the compliment. "I guess I'll have a reputation at that place now. Who knows? Maybe I'll get free pizza."

"Or you'll be kicked out."

"You need to be more optimistic, Sky boy."

***

Hannah was a master of the "I'm not mad, just disappointed" look. 

"You need to stop picking fights. I know why you do, and I understand. Really, I do. But you can't keep doing it, okay?" She said, bringing him a glass of water. 

"Why not?"

"Because it hurts other people, and it hurts you. Not only that, it could hurt your future. It could get you in brig trouble. Don't look at me like that, I'm just trying to help."

Alois scowled. "Ugh, I know. But he started it!"

"So now you can be the bigger person, and end it." 

He choked on his water. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Go and apologize. Work out your issues. It'll make things better for everyone, trust me." 

Alois sighed. Despite how he acted, he didn't really like being in this fight. He had just been hurt. Perhaps he had responded badly. Perhaps he should take Hannah's advice. Suddenly, he remembered that he had something else to tell her.

"I almost forgot! I got promoted at my job! I mean, it still doesn't pay much. But it's something, right?"

She smiled at him. "It means a lot of something."

Later, as he walked home, Alois realized that Hannah was the first real friend he'd had in years. He'd missed it.

***

Ciel flung himself onto his bed and groaned out loud. He didn't have to be quiet for anyone, because he was alone. Thinking about the situation,he let out another groan for good measure.

Why was Lau so difficult? Why was he so confusing? Why was he so attractive and tall and strong and clever and...

Ciel cut off his own thoughts. None of that mattered because they had one lesson left and after that he wouldn't have an excuse to spend time with him. The thought of it made his heart ache. After how he'd come to feel for the man, how could he possibly want anyone else? 

Earlier, he had felt like nothing in his life had meaning. He didn't care about his career. He didn't care about his brother. He didn't care deeply about anything.

But then Lau came into his life, spewing nonsense about naming bugs and making bets. Teasing him outside of class and winking at him within it. Challenging him and yet, as today proved, defending him. Teaching him new things every day. Some were relevant, some were not, but they were always interesting to learn. 

And then everything started to change. Every moment he spent with him had meaning. Sometimes, it was frustrating, irritating, or annoying. But he felt something. It had meaning. 

He had started to laugh more. And then, to his dismay he had started to care. Perhaps it was on Halloween, when he saw the photo of Lau and his sister. Perhaps it was when he let him borrow his hoodie on that rainy night when they played chess. Perhaps it was later, when they joked around at Thanksgiving or when he had been a safe place on his birthday. Perhaps he had even started to care at the first party of his that he went to, when he lost the bet but gained so much more in the long run.

Ciel didn't know which one it was, but the point was that he started to care, and from there came the butterflies, the longing, and the heartache. And it couldn't just be for nothing. He was determined to give it his everything at the last lesson.

Having just resolved this, he heard a knock on the door.

At this point Ciel was rarely surprised, but even he wasn't quite prepared for Alois to be there when he opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, more confused than angry.

Alois looked at the ground and shuffled his feet. "Er, well. I wanted to talk, I guess. Can I come in?"

Ciel shrugged and gestured for him to enter. "Tea?" He asked, feeling like he should say something.

He declined the tea, as well as the cookies that Ciel proceeded to offer. "Look, I just wanted to apologize. Not that I really should, I mean it's your fault anyways but-" 

He broke off remembering Hannah's expression of disappointment. "-I guess I did some stuff I shouldn't have, too. I've got a lot going on. I know that's not an excuse for how I've been acting, but there it is. Anyways, I know you don't like me. I know we're probably not going to become great friends. But I hope we can stop fighting at least?"

Ciel looked slightly uncomfortable. He hasn't really been prepared for this. "Uh. Well. It's okay, don't worry about it. I've been kind of a dick too. It's in the past."

Alois smiled, but it wasn't a shit eating grin or accompanied by maniacal laughter. Instead, it was peaceful. 

"Are you sure you don't want some tea?" Ciel asked. Giving in, Alois agreed. Moments later, they say side by side on the couch, sipping earl grey.

"So, why are you working at a convenience store?" Ciel asked, breaking the silence.

"Well, I guess...it's kind of a long story but if you must know, I've been starting to think I might need a place of my own."

"Trouble in paradise?"

"No! Okay, fine. Maybe. It's complicated."

Ciel nodded. "And none of my business. That's okay. Still, why a convenience store? You're doing well at school."

He shrugged. "Yeah, I mean I want to work in marketing. I haven't finished school yet, though. Besides, once I do, who would hire me? You need connections. I don't have any. Claude could have helped me out with that, but now I just don't know."

Ciel smiled bitterly. "Why do we have to rely on people for things? I rely on my brother for my future, my career, my security. You do the same with this Claude guy. It's not right. We're in charge of our own futures, and they're demons, the both of them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave comments or kudos, I love to hear what people think of this. Thank you so much for reading, and thank you to my beta. Lots of love to all of y'all.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ciel becomes a level five friend and unlocks the tragic backstory. And also gets some action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So warnings for this chapter: in the first half, there's sex. In the second half, there are mentions of racism and violence. If you know this is going to upset you, please take care of yourself. If you want a summary of the chapter because of that, feel free to let me know in the comments.

Ciel was ready. This was his moment, and he was taking it. Filled with determination, he pulled his coat over the outfit he had bought with his friends, and headed out the door.

As usual, he was let in by Ran Mao, who gestured that Lau was in the kitchen. Taking a deep breath, he went to find him.

"Well, look who's here." Lau commented, turning around from where he'd been setting out ingredients.

"Who else would it be." Ciel deadpanned. Lau smirked and Ciel took it as an opportunity to take off his coat and show off his outfit. 

With the ease of a stripper, he let it fall off his shoulders. He wasn't dressed completely revealingly, but compared to his regular wardrobe it was noticeable. At least, Lau certainly seemed to notice.

His eyes trailed up and down Ciel's form, taking it in. Ciel tossed his coat on a chair and then brushed past Lau to stand by the counter.

"I suppose we should get started, it is our last lesson after all." He said with a smirk.

They proceeded as usual, except perhaps with slightly more glances from Lau and slightly more of Ciel making an effort to bend over when he caught him staring.

However, as the lesson went on, Ciel got less and less subtle. Whenever he tasted something, he made sure to moan as lewdly as possible. He found excuses to touch Lau's arm. He batted his eyelashes. 

Still, they flirted all the time lately. It was time to be direct. 

"Lau?" He said innocently.

"Mhm?"

"Do you want to fuck me?" He asked in the same tone, outwardly innocent but a sly undercurrent to it.

Lau turned to him, eyes narrowed. "What?"

"I thought I was quite clear. Do you want to fuck me or not?"

Lau looked him up and down once again, and licked his lips. "Perhaps. My answer depends on yours, though."

"My what?"

"Your answer. Do you want to be fucked by me?"

The way Lau was looking at him, Ciel felt like his face was on fire. Still, this was his moment and he knew it. He wasn't going to ruin this by being a stuttering mess. He wasn't a blushing virgin, bloody hell.

Defiantly, he stared back. "Yes. So are you going to do it already?" He answered cockily enough to hide the thrumming of his heart. 

Lau walked over from beside Ciel until he was in front of him. He proceeded to crowd him against the counter until Ciel's back was to it, with his face just inches from Lau's. 

He nuzzled his face into the crook of Ciel's neck. "My my, how impatient." He whispered before leaving a trail of open mouthed kisses ending at his collarbone. 

Ciel was breathing heavily. This was much too slow. He slid himself forward until he was fully pressed against Lau, and kissed him while simultaneously rocking his hips forward. If he had needed any proof that Lau was enjoying this, he had it. Ciel could easily feel how hard he was against him. 

For a second it seemed like Lau wasn't responding to the kiss. Then, Ciel rolled his hips again and something in him seemed to snap. Roughly, he claimed Ciel's lips with tongue and teeth. Ciel gave back as good as he got. They had kissed before, but it had been nothing like this. 

Ciel tangled his hands in Lau's hair and groaned when he reached down to grip his ass, both squeezing and fondling. 

Lau had started to let out soft moans as he thrust himself against Ciel's hip. The friction wasn't nearly enough, and they both knew they needed more.

Lau pulled away, leaving him gasping. "If we're going this, we're doing it right. I have no objections to making you come in your pants in the middle of my kitchen, but this is our first time. You're going to be screaming my name as I fuck you, and it's going to be on a real bed. Let's go." 

Ciel followed him, slightly dishevelled, to his bedroom upstairs. Lau sat on the bed. Ciel, painfully hard, took no time to straddle his hips and resume kissing him with a passion.

As he felt Lau's hand slip into his jeans and wrap around his length, he bit down hard on his lip. At that, the older man ground his hips up.

Ciel could barely think. This should have been nothing. He was still in his clothes, for heavens sake. But Lau's hands were soft yet calloused, teasing yet giving him what he needed, talented yet tentative and exploring. With each stroke, he felt like he was going to die, or perhaps be reborn. It was like nothing he'd ever experienced.

"Ahhh, fu-" He jerked, causing Lau to whimper underneath him. "Don't stop, God, that's good. I- I think I'm closeheywait!" He exclaimed as Lau removed his hand. "What the hell?" 

Lau smirked. This was quickly wiped off when Ciel's hips jerked again. Catching his breath, he defended himself. "Can't have you coming too soon now, can I? Shh. I'll make it worth it." He reassured.

"You better." Ciel muttered before Lau pulled off his shirt in a quick motion. 

"That was just getting in the way. Now I can really look at you."

Lau didn't just look, he touched. His hands roamed across Ciel's chest, fingers occasionally trailing along his waistband. Ciel squirmed at the feather light touches. When Lau brushed against his nipples, he made a soft sound that Lau laughed at. 

Realizing that he didn't really have the upper hand, Ciel decided it was his turn. He wanted to see Lau lose control.

He slid off Lau's lap and onto his own knees. Parting Lau's legs, he crawled up until his face was at his groin.

He looked up to see Lau gazing at him as if he was the only thing in the world. Smirking, he winked. "Want me to do anything?" He asked mockingly. 

Lau wasn't taking his bait. "I think you know exactly what I want right now."

"Hmm, do I?" Ciel teased. He let his hand ghost over Lau's prominent erection. 

"Do I need to show you?" Lau challenged, sliding his hands into Ciel's hair. 

"Go ahead." He taunted back.

Lau manoeuvred himself out of his trousers in a smooth motion. Before Ciel could fully take in his new view, Lau had guided his cock to rest at his lips. Making eye contact, Ciel diligently opened his mouth.

Fingers tightening in his hair, Lau pulled his head forward while thrusting shallowly into his mouth. He let out a broken moan at the sudden warm heat of his mouth. 

He began a rhythm as he thrusted into Ciel's mouth. Ciel could tell he was holding back though, unwilling to hurt him. His eyebrows were furrowed with the tension of it.

Pleased at the restraint and respect he was showing, despite his obvious desire, Ciel decided to reward him. Never breaking eye contact, he sucked hard, taking him deeper into his throat. Lau's eyes fluttered shut. 

Ciel continued to suck and lick at him. Lau's moans increased in volume, and Ciel had never seen anything so erotic. He palmed himself through his trousers as he watched the man fall apart.

Suddenly Lau's hands, which had been gripping his hair as if for dear life, pulled him off. 

"I told you I'm fucking you tonight. I'm not going to come before that." He gasped. Ciel clambered onto his lap as Lau pulled off his shirt and kicked away his trousers which had been around his ankles. 

Lau pushed him off his lap so that he was lying on the bed, and positioned himself on top of him, held up by his arms. Ciel looked up at his piercing eyes, half lidded but filled with intensity. He lowered himself to kiss him. Unlike earlier, this kiss was soft. Intimate. 

After a second, he got off Ciel and stood over him at the edge of the bed. "Wha-" Ciel started to say before Lau reached down to unzip his jeans and pull them off. After taking a second to appreciate the bulge showing in his boxers, he slipped them off too. Now Ciel was completely naked like him. 

Ciel watched as he went to his drawer and took out a jar of lube. "Glad you're prepared." He commented, taking in that Lau standing in front of him, wearing absolutely nothing, and looking hot as hell. 

Lau only smirked in response. After he took more than a minute to get back to the bed, Ciel spread his legs in open invitation. He heard Lau's breath hitch. 

Without any more smirks or teasing, Lau slicked up a finger and pushed it in. It felt so good, after he had longed for him for months now he could feel him, stroking inside him. Soon, Lau added another finger. Ciel shifted to accommodate him. However, when his long fingers brushed against that spot deep inside him, his brain short circuited. He let out a sound that was uncomfortably close to a sob. 

"Nng, fuck! Ah, don't- don't stop..." He whimpered as Lau continued to stroke his prostate. 

"Shh. I'm going to stop-"

"Don't you dare!"

"But only for something better. Wouldn't you rather have my cock in you?" He asked teasingly. 

Ciel scowled. A deliberate crook of the fingers wiped it off his face, though. Too soon, he removed his fingers. Ciel watched as he slicked himself up. Lau's eyes stayed on him the whole time. 

He got back in his position from before, hovering over Ciel. As he began to slide in, Ciel nuzzled his face against his neck to hide how heavily he was breathing. Still, Lau seemed to notice.

"Hush. I'll take care of you." He whispered, before thrusting in to the hilt. 

They both cried out at the same time. Ciel's nails scratched down his back, needing something to grip onto. Lau waited for a moment, breath laboured.

"Just- ugh, just move already!" Ciel exclaimed.

Despite his tension, Lau laughed. "Say the magic words."

Ciel growled. "If you don't, I'll set Lizzy on you. Have you ever seen her fight?" 

Lau snickered, before Ciel rolled his hips making him gasp. "Fine, I was hoping for a please but I'll take what I can get. Honestly, how rude-"

Ciel rolled his hips again, and that was all Lau could handle. Quickly, he pulled all the way out and thrust back in. Hard. Ciel bit down on his shoulder as he continued to fuck him. 

Despite his attempts to muffle himself, Ciel couldn't keep quiet. Every thrust went deep and brushed against the place that made him see stars. Every thrust made his toes curl and blew every coherent thought right out of his head. Every thrust made him yell. 

Lau might have teased him for the amount of noise he was making, except he was a bit busy making his own noises. There was a non stop chorus of groans and whimpers on his part, with an occasional sigh. With one particularly deep thrust, Ciel wrapped his legs around Lau's waist, creating a new angle.

Near the end, they looked at each other and truly saw each other. Ciel, filled with pleasure, had let his defences down. There was no sarcasm or bitterness in his eyes when he looked up. There was only wonder. Lau, filled with the same pleasure, had let his own defences down. There was no mask of indifference or casualness on his face. Instead, it was creased with the strain of his passion and desire. He looked down as if he had never cared so deeply about anything or anyone in his life. To be looked at like that was intoxicating.

As he looked at him like that, Ciel leaned up and kissed him. Contrary to the lewd sounds they were making, the kiss was soft and chaste and conveyed everything they were feeling. With a soft cry, Lau spilled inside him. Feeling the wetness inside him, and Lau's lips almost shaking against him, Ciel was overcome. He wanted to make it last, but it was too much. 

Shuddering, he came all over their stomachs. Lau rolled over, pulling him to lie on his chest as they recovered. Now soft, Lau slipped out of him. Ciel whimpered at the loss.

As they lay there, Lau's hands stroked his back almost absentmindedly. This wasn't like the sex, but in its own way Ciel found it just as pleasurable. Being in Lau's arms, hearing his heartbeat- he had never felt so safe or secure. It was wonderful. 

The room was so quiet that when Ciel spoke, he spoke softly as to not disturb it.

"How long have you wanted this?"

"A long time."

"I kissed you though. I gave you every opportunity. But instead of taking the opportunities, you avoided me. Why?" He asked, turning his head to look at Lau.

He thought for a moment before answering. "I was scared. Scared of losing you, scared I didn't deserve you."

"Why?"

"It's a long story."

Ciel took Lau's hand in his, threading their fingers. "Will you tell me?"

The silence stretched on. Ciel was about to break it with some mundane observation when Lau began to speak.

"My parents were both Chinese. Their parents had been immigrants, and when they first moved here they saw so much hatred towards them for their race. It was the fifties, after all. My parents had different experiences, but they both grew up seeing the bigotry and cruelty that England allowed to happen to their parents. Because of this, it's not surprising that they, as adults, were very political. They were extremely involved in every human rights movement. They were activists to the core."

He paused before continuing. "They were open about their views in a time when that wasn't always accepted. They knew they could make enemies over what they were doing. They didn't care, though. They were good people, and they believed in their cause."

"Did they make enemies, then?"

"Yes. There was a group of people, horrible people, with horrible views. My parents were very public about how they felt about this group, and even helped to break up most of the group. Of course, some members were never caught or arrested, or escaped prison through political loopholes. These people were angry with my parents."

He continued stroking Ciel's back as he talked. Ciel remained quiet, listening. 

"At first, all they did was send death threats. Perhaps, things would have turned out differently if my parents had taken them seriously. But they didn't, so that's neither here nor there. As it is, the leftover members realized the death threats weren't doing anything, and they took action. I was seven when they did it. My sister was four."

"What did they do?"

"They found our address. I heard them break open the door and my mothers scream from downstairs. Even at that age, I had a good self preservation instinct. I hid myself in the closet. Even now I think how easily they could have found me, but apparently they didn't know anything about the children in the family. They were only after my parents. My sister was just in the way."

Ciel squeezed his hand.

"I never saw my parents die. I heard the gun shots, but that was all. It was my sister that I saw die."

He shuddered for a moment before continuing. "She was woken up by their footsteps coming up the stairs. Scared, she came into my room like she always would during a nightmare. I was about to show her my hiding place when they came in. They shot her without any hesitation."

Ciel looked up to see the look of pain on Lau's face. "It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have done anything different."

"Of course I could have! I could have hidden her faster. I could have stopped them, I could have done something-"

"You were seven! You did all that you could have, saved yourself."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Anyways, soon after the police came. Neighbours had reported the gun shots. Everything after was a blur. I was able to testify against all the killers. They all went to jail. But it didn't bring my family back, so what's it matter?"

Ciel kissed his cheek gently before Lau finished his story. "After that, I went from foster home to foster home. I started out naive and hopeful that I could create a new family, make new friends. But each time I moved, I lost some of that hope. By the time I was an adult, I no longer believed that I wouldn't lose the people I loved. After all, it had always happened before. Why wouldn't it happen again? And then I started to wonder if maybe I deserved it. I let my sister die right in front of me. Did I deserve something good? Especially something as good as you."

"I lost my family too. Maybe I could have saved them, or changed something. I don't know. But that's not going to stop me from living my life. I'm not going to give you up because I'm scared of losing you like I lost them. And I'm not going to give you up because I might or might not deserve you. I want to be with you, and I'm not giving that up for anything. Who knows what will happen in the future? I sure don't, but I do know I plan to stick around. I hope you do too, because I'll be bloody pissed if you don't."

Lau laughed quietly. "I wouldn't dream of it."

They lay there for another moment before Ciel asked another one of his burning questions.

"So that's why you avoided me, but that doesn't explain why you were so willing to help out with the lessons."

"That's easy enough. It was easy enough to decide to cut you out of my life when you weren't there. Having you in front of me, I realized that I was helpless. I couldn't cut you out of my life no matter how much I wanted to. I couldn't do it even if having you in my life would destroy me. So in that moment, I gave up."

At that, Lau pressed a kiss to his forehead. Ciel tipped his head up to catch his lips in a real kiss. They continued to kiss softly for several minutes. A thought coming to mind, Ciel broke the kiss.

"I still don't know how you met Ran Mao though." He said.

"That's a story for another day. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. I think I'll go to sleep. I'm glad we relocated to the bed." He answered casually before promptly closing his eyes.

"God damn you." Ciel muttered under his breath, curling up at his side. It wasn't long before he drifted off himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed, thank you so much for reading!


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ciel makes phone calls and goes to the competition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is so late again. Life's been a bit crazy lately, but I'll try and do better.

Ciel yawned, stretched, and realized he was completely naked in someone else's house. Lau was no where to be found, but he could hear dishes rattling downstairs. Presumably he was getting breakfast. 

Needing something to wear, he got up and rummaged through Lau's wardrobe. Finding an oddly silky blue robe, he covered himself and headed downstairs.

"Ugh, I hope you're making breakfast. I'm starving." He said as he walked in the kitchen. Lau looked up from his bowl of lucky charms.

"Cereal's in the cupboard. Take your pick." He gestured to the specific location.

Ciel made a sound of disapproval. "I prefer toast actually..."

"Does it look like I have a toaster?" 

It was actually only in this moment that Ciel realized that he indeed did not have a toaster. "How do you survive?"

Lau shrugged. "C'mon, have some lucky charms."

Five minutes later, Ciel was sitting across from him with a determined scowl to hide the fact that he was actually enjoying the cereal. Lau was clearly not buying it, given the smirks he kept sending in his direction. 

"Why do you even buy this stuff?" Ciel asked. "You're an adult, honestly."

"Why should being an adult mean depriving myself of nice things? I'm not depriving myself of you, after all." He quipped back.

Ciel choked on his cereal. "Are you comparing me to a children's breakfast?"

"If the shoe fits."

"In what way does that shoe fit?!"

Lau just shrugged, and Ciel went back to eating. He cursed himself for his weakness for sweet things. He should have put up more of a fight, on principal. It was to prove a point. Cereal wasn't a good breakfast food. It was cold! 

Lau interrupted his thoughts. "Stop taking the cereal so seriously. You might get high blood pressure and die. I'm not okay with that now that I know how good in bed you are."

"Yeah, well, I'm good enough in bed for you to get a damn toaster." Ciel challenged.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

Half an hour later, Lau turned to face him where he lay sprawled out in bed. "Alright, alright. I'll get the toaster." He teased.

"Damn right you will."

***

By late afternoon, Ciel was back at his room. He had planned on leaving earlier, but by lunch Lau had been up for round two, so there they were.

For the first time in a long time, he felt balanced. Like he could deal with anything, sort out any problem rationally. He was completely clearheaded.

It was at this moment that he remembered Lizzy's nagging to call Sebastian and work things out. So, he didn't like the idea of it. But maybe it was time to stop running from his problems, and finally face them head on. Maybe it was time to stop being a coward. 

This was all well and good to say to himself, but it still took him five hours of procrastination and avoiding the problem before he actually picked up the phone. There were another ten minutes of self doubt before he dialled the number. As it rang, he also considered hanging up. But in the end he didn't, and that's what really mattered. Not what he wanted to do or thought of doing, but what he actually did.

"Hello?" Said the voice on the phone.

"Sebastian?"

"Yes. Ciel? What is it?"

Ciel steeled himself. "I think we should talk. We left things on kind of a rough note, I guess..."

"That would be one way of putting it, yes."

Ciel growled at his uppity tone. "Shut up, will you? I'm going to say my part, okay?"

"Go ahead then."

"I'm grateful for everything you've done for me. Really, I am. Even if your motives were sometimes selfish, you still saved me in many ways and I'm grateful. There's some things you can't owe a person though. I think I've always been worried about going against your will because of what I owe you, and I'm realizing I can't live like that. Running the family business is your dream, not mine. Taking our past in stride and not letting it affect you? That's your thing too. Keeping a perfect public image? Yours. I don't resent any of that but I'm done trying to conform to it. I want things to work out between us but I need you to understand that."

"But I need your help! Everyone is expecting me to have you as a partner as soon as you graduate! Who else will I get?" Sebastian asked.

Ciel thought to himself. Suddenly, he remembered his conversation with Alois. "What if I told you I knew someone, smart and attractive for the image, that could work with you? He'd even graduate at the same time as me. You wouldn't have to change anything." He suggested.

"Hmm. That could work. Email me his information then, if he's interested. Even so, you're still my brother. I'm concerned about your future. Just what are you going to do?" 

"I'll figure it out. For now, I'll just finish this year of school."

"Alright. Fine. Just-" There was a pause on the other end. "-Just let me know how it goes, okay?"

Ciel's anger was fading. He needed to live his own life, but now he was going to. It was time to let the resentment go.

"Okay. Bye." He said before hanging up.

Feeling a weight off his shoulders, he went and made himself tea. Maybe he'd even visit home one of these days. Not yet, but maybe soon. 

He wandered around his room for awhile. The competition wasn't until tomorrow, and he had nothing to do. He skimmed through Netflix, but nothing looked interested. He pulled his collection of books out from under his bed, but he had read them all. Except, of course, the harlequin romance novel that Lizzy had bought him as a joke. However, he wasn't quite that bored.

He made another cup of tea. Nothing passed time like making tea. He doodled an owl. He realized that he couldn't draw owls. 

He flung himself on the bed. He looked out his window and people watched. He opened his window for fresh air. He attempted to punch a pigeon trying to fly into his window, and almost fell out the window. After that, he decided he had had enough fresh air. He made another cup of tea.

By this third cup of tea, he realized two things. The first was that he couldn't get Lau off his mind. The second was that relieving his boredom hanging around a small dorm room was highly ineffective.

Sighing with disappointment fully directed at himself, he put on his coat and headed out. With a glare in the direction of the elevator, he took the stairs. 

Ran Mao let him in. He found Lau in the living room. "You're back." He said, looking up.

"Yeah. Thanks for telling me, I might not have realized otherwise." Ciel snapped back.

Lau laughed his signature laugh. "Quick witted as usual, I see." He gave a slight smirk. "Not that I mind, of course."

Ciel rolled his eyes, muttered "Screw it", and walked over to climb onto Lau's lap. 

"I'm really enjoyed this development of our relationship." Lau commented, hands reaching to rest on his hips.

"Shut up, you." Ciel said affectionately before silencing him with a kiss. 

Ran Mao, walking by the doorway, decided maybe she'd go for a walk. Preferably one lasting an hour or more. She learned the hard way that neither were quite in bed and their house had extremely thin walls.

This was probably a good idea on her part, as the next hour consisted of many noises that would make you blush, as well as some interesting views if you happened to walk by the wrong doorway. 

"Man, I really need a shower now." Ciel commented from where they lay on the floor. 

"I'm always open to shower sex, but I'm afraid I'll need another ten minutes before I'm ready to go again. Sorry to disappoint." Lau answered, running his hand through Ciel's hair.

Ciel sat up. "Well, I'm having a shower. Feel free to join when you have the stamina, old man."

"What am I, your sugar daddy?"

"As if, you're broke. If anything, I'm the sugar daddy."

Lau laughed. "I can work with that. I have an open mind."

Rolling his eyes, Ciel headed out of the room to find the shower. Feeling Lau's gaze, he yelled "And stop staring at my ass!" over his shoulder. 

"Aww."

Whether from a determination to prove he wasn't old, or a determination to see Ciel's ass again, they ended up in the shower together. 

Ran Mao opened the door tentatively. From upstairs she heard a yell of "Oh fuck, harder!" Abruptly, she changed her mind and decided maybe she'd take a longer walk after all.

***

"Nervous?" Lau asked as they entered the building.

"Pfft. As if. I'm going to win, why should I be nervous?"

Lau laughed. "Cocky, as always. I suppose I wouldn't expect anything less from you. So how is this thing going to work, anyways?"

Ciel recited the information he had got of the website when he signed up. "The first round takes place privately. Then, at lunch, they post the results. The three people that make the cut go on to the final round, which is public. Both rounds are timed, and during both we get some selection of ingredients to work with. We don't know what ingredients we'll get until it's started. That's about it, I think."

"Oh, so we get to watch round two. Me and Ran Mao will be sure to cheer you on."

Ciel rolled his eyes. "Just don't be a nuisance about it."

"Me? A nuisance? I would never. What could possibly make you think I'd do a thing like that?" He whined.

"What could possibly make me think you wouldn't do a thing like that?"

Really, not much had changed about their relationship. Other than kisses and sex, and was the same old bickering friendship. Ciel was glad. He was glad things hadn't changed.

"Cieeeeeel!!" Came a cry from down the hall. Seconds later, he was attacked by a whirlwind of blonde and purple hair.

"Thanks for coming, guys." He managed to say from within the suffocating hug.

After letting him go, Lizzy smiled. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Hey, you brought Lau too! That's good!" Soma exclaimed cheerfully.

"Hey, mind if we talk to you for a moment? Privately?" Lizzy asked. Ciel looked at Lau, who shrugged. With that, he allowed himself to be dragged off to a side hall.

The stopped once they were sufficiently out of earshot. "So, did you complete the plan?" Soma asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Steps one through five." Ciel replied.

"And?"

"And what?"

"You know?"

"Know what?"

Lizzy interjected. "What Soma is trying to find out is, did you do it with him?"

"Did I do what?" Ciel answered sarcastically.

"Ciel I swear to god-"

Ciel snickered. "Fine, fine. We did 'it'."

Once again, he was forced into a group hug. "Why is this something that warrants a hug?" He asked, but he didn't get an answer.

Once all that was cleared up, they went to rejoin Lau and Ran Mao in the main hall.

As soon as they returned however, Lau asked if he could speak to him privately too. Rolling his eyes, Ciel allowed himself to be dragged into the private hallway again.

"So, what do you want?" He asked.

Lau shrugged. "Nothing, everyone else was dragging you off so I felt like I should get on the bandwagon. However, since we have privacy, might as well take advantage of it."

"I'm very concerned by the look on your face-"

He was interrupted by Lau pulling him into a kiss. Deciding that there was ten minutes until he needed to be in the waiting room, he shrugged and reached up to run his fingers through Lau's hair.

They kissed for a few minutes, each of them slowly getting more into it. Ciel hadn't realized they had been backing up until he hit the wall.

"Hmm. Ever considered public sex?" Lau whispered in his ear.

Scowling, Ciel shoved him off. "No, and I'm not about to. "Honestly Lau, are you never not horny?"

"I'd be boring if I wasn't." Lau answered, laughing at Ciel's reaction. "Besides, I'm pretty sure you're at least slightly interested." He said, with a pointed look at the slight tent in Ciel's pants.

"Shut up."

He smirked. "Sure you don't want help with that?"

"I'm sure. I'll think of dead puppies and kittens. C'mon, let's go back to Lizzy and the rest."

Lau followed him with only mild grumbling. Before they knew it, it was time for Ciel to go to the waiting room with the other contestants. "I'll meet you after it's done, okay?" He said to his friends.

A few minutes later, a door opened and a woman came out to check off their names on a list. Once that was over, she let them into the room.

The room was long and white, with counters and ovens galore. They each had a set place with a pile of ingredients.

Their time limit was seventy five minutes, so Ciel knew he had to work fast. He assessed the ingredients.

Seeing that he had cream cheese, he decided cheesecake was the way to go. However, to wow the judges he needed something more than just plain cheesecake.

He remembered Lau talking about pairing flavours in their lessons. Fruit and chocolate go well together. Scanning the options, he decided raspberry and white chocolate was the way to go. 

Now that he knew what he was doing, he got to work. He had had so much practice that he flew through the steps with ease. When the timer went off, he was just adding the final drizzle of raspberry sauce.

"Leave your finished product at your station. We'll post the results at 'noon. You may all leave now." Announced the woman who had checked off their names in the beginning.

When Lizzy and Soma saw him, he was assaulted with the third group hug of the day. 

"How come I never get hugs?" Lau asked from the sidelines. Shooing Lizzy and Soma away, he wrapped his around Ciel, pulling him close. "There. That's better."

"You idiot." Ciel muttered, with no real heat. Lau only laughed.

"Let's get lunch, shall we? I think Ran Mao is rather hungry." He said a moment later.

"Hungry." She confirmed.

"Okay, but you're buying. Also, you haven't even asked me how the first round went." Ciel commented.

"Why should I? I know you did well. It's you." Lau answered, arm still around him as they walked.

"You idiot." Ciel said again with a small smile.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ciel has a big win, and Alois gets a phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double posting to make up for lateness, sorry that I'm such a mess. Hope you like it, anyways.

After they finished lunch, they went back to the main hall to see if the results had been posted. Soma, filled with enthusiasm as always, ran ahead.

"You got in! You're in the second round!" He called over the crowd. Despite himself, Ciel felt a flash of pride. 

"Baldroy's going to be sorry he made that bet." He said, turning to Lizzy. "By the way, where is he? I would have thought he'd come to gloat."

Lizzy smiled, but it was forced. "Who knows? Don't worry about it, he's probably just busy with other things. We can tell him about your big win later."

"He hasn't won yet." Lau piped up. "The second round will be harder, and you'll be competing against the best."

"Lau, stop trying to make him nervous." Lizzy reprimanded.

"Being nervous is good."

"No it's not, he should be calm and collected."

Ciel broke in. "I'm not nervous, so it doesn't matter. You guys should find your seats, I have to go get ready."

After he had shooed them off, he went to wait with the other contestants. After a minute, the same lady from before came out to brief them. She didn't say much new, except that this time there'd be an audience.

The audience thing proved to be a bit weird at first. Ciel felt extremely uncomfortable being watched like this. He could barely concentrate as he scanned the new ingredients, but when he looked up, his friends caught his eye.

Lizzy and Soma waved, grinning. Lau gave him a small smile and a wink. That was all he needed. His friends were out there supporting him, and he was going to do great.

He looked at the ingredients again and saw that one of them was curry. Luck was on his side. He had spent the past ten years with Soma. If there was anything he knew, it was how to serve good curry well.

He remembered when he first had chocolate cake with curry in it. He had expected to be disgusted, but after the first bite he was anything but. The flavours were a perfect combination, playing off each other wonderfully.

With this memory up his sleeve, he set to work making a chocolate cake with a curried chocolate syrup. He was so busy with this that he completely forgot about the people he was competing against, or the audience. He just wanted to get this right.

The timer ran out just as he finished. With a sigh of relief, he looked up. It was only then that he noticed people cheering. Lizzy's voice was by far the loudest.

They were escorted off the stage. The results would be announced in ten minutes. Ciel waited nervously in the wings.

After the ten minutes had passed, an announcer walked out on stage. "The judges have made their decision. Now, ladies and gentlemen. The moment you've all been waiting for. The winner of the grand prize-"

"Wait, there's a prize?" Ciel asked out loud.

"Yeah, obviously. Didn't you go on the website?" another contestant questioned.

"I did, I guess I just missed that. What's the prize, then?"

The announcer continued. "The grand prize of 200 pounds-"

"Well shit."

"Is Ciel Phantomhive!"

Ciel winced at Lizzy's deafening cheer before walking out on stage.

Receiving the prize was pretty uncomfortable, actually. He shook hands with the judges, took his cheque, and smiled awkwardly at the audience. Of course, when he looked at his friends his smile was real. 

Later, he met them outside. As expected, he was coerced into another group hug. He made eye contact with a smirking Lau. In response, he stuck his tongue out. "Shut up." He mouthed.

Lizzy and Soma left after a few minutes of enthusiastic chatter, and Ran Mao disappeared for unknown reasons, leaving Ciel with Lau.

"Wanna go somewhere?" Lau asked.

"That sounds menacing."

"Don't you trust me?" 

Ciel smirked. "Not in the slightest. So where is this somewhere?"

Lau shrugged. "It's a surprise. Come on, let's go."

With that, he grabbed Ciel's arm and pulled him along. Ciel sighed and let himself be pulled to wherever they were going.

When Ciel saw the building they were headed to, he raised his eyebrows. "The school? Some date."

"Hey, don't knock it 'til we get there." Lau protested.

It was already late afternoon and getting dusky. Ciel realized they must have spent more time talking outside the competition than he thought. If he was completely honest with himself, he had loved every minute of the competition, and had been in a bit of a daze afterwards.

At this time, the building was mostly deserted. It was odd seeing it like this, when usually it was so bustling.

"So, where are we going now?" Ciel asked as they walked down a hallway.

"Shh. You'll see."

At the end of the hall, they came to a staircase. Lau led him up it, all three flights until they came to a door.

Ciel followed him outside the door and blinked. "The roof?"

"Yeah, come to the edge."

"Okay that sounds extremely menacing, how worried should I be right now?"

Lau shushed him. "Calm down, it's a nice place to sit, okay?"

Ciel shrugged. It turned out that he was right though. Sitting near the edge, they could see the whole campus. Since it was dusk, people were staring to turn on lights. As a result, the campus sparkled.

"I hate admitting you're right about anything, but-"

"I was right?"

"Yes. Don't look at me like that. Shut up."

Lau chucked. Ciel went back to looking at the view. It was getting darker by the minute. 

Lau spoke up. "Want hot chocolate? I brought a thermos." 

"Do you have mugs for it?"

"We all forget things sometimes. Stop shaming me."

Ciel rolled his eyes affectionately. "Whatever, we'll share. Pass it."

Despite the hot chocolate, he was starting to feel the chill. It was spring, but so early spring that coats were still needed. When he shivered, Lau noticed.

"Come over here." He said, wrapping his arm around him. "Can't have you freezing to death, things would be so boring without you around. Who would criticize my every move? No one else is as much of a shit as you."

Ciel elbowed him. "Hey! Just because I point out when you're doing something you shouldn't be. Besides, you criticize me all the time too. You're a hypocrite, you know that?"

Lau shrugged. "Meh, probably. Still, it's not like you'll get really mad about it or anything, given how fast I can make you come-"

"Okay first of all, great sex is not enough to calm my rage at how you've offended me-" Ciel began in mock anger.

"Not that anything I said was wrong." Lau joked back.

"-and I think you're getting a little too cocky about your skills in bed. You weren't that great, calm down."

"And who's name was it that you were screaming yesterday? Because I seem to remember it being mine, of course I could be wrong. Care to refresh my memory?"

Ciel glowed. "Shut up. You're a nuisance."

"How about we see if it happens again, for proof." Lau teased, reaching over to let his hand rest on Ciel's upper thigh. 

"I said no public sex, Lau."

"In my defence, you said nothing about public handjobs."

"The rule still applies!" He would have continued, but he wanted to hide how breathless he was as Lau's hand inched higher. Just as Lau leaned over to press his lips against his neck, the door to the roof burst open.

"Just because I'm spending more time with them than usual doesn't mean anything! It's for work! We're sharing ideas outside of class, stop making ridiculous assumptions. Because that's what they are. Ridiculous." William said in a huff to Ronald, who was following behind.

Ronald shrugged. "Okay, okay. Sir. All I'm saying is literally everyone knows what's going on. They have since Christmas, probably earlier. You can stop making such a fuss about it. Just sayin'. Also, looks like we're not alone."

There was a moment if uncomfortable silence combined with eye contact as the two pairs noticed each other. "Uhm. We'll. We'll just be going now." Ciel said, ducking out of Lau's arms. With a "aw", Lau stood up and followed him. Before he left, he winked at Ronald, who grinned back.

They finished their hot chocolate in Lau's kitchen, accompanied by Ran Mao. 

***

Time seemed to fly after that. Ciel kept coming to Lau's despite the end of the lessons. Sometimes, they baked anyways. Sometimes they watched bad movies and spent their time criticizing everything wrong with them. Ciel loved this, because complaining was sort of his favourite hobby. 

They also played cards, and sometimes tried their hand at a video game or two. However, when Ran Mao had to break their fight up, they realized their competitiveness was getting out of hand. After that, there were no more video games.

They went out to fast food places, and crashed one wedding reception. That was a long story, but Ciel would insist to anyone that would listen that it hadn't been his fault.

They also had a lot of sex. This was equally both of their faults, given how often they put moves on each other in literally any place or time. 

They had done it in just about every room of the house, whether it was with Ciel bent over the kitchen counter, being fucked against the hallway wall, in the shower, on the living room floor, or with Lau lying luxuriously on the bed with Ciel being made to do all the work on top. Not that Ciel minded. He enjoyed a little dominance sometimes, in all aspects of his life. 

There was also a multitude of blowjobs and handjobs when they were short of time. Once, Lau had given him a massage which led to him eating Ciel out. This was a new, and extremely welcome experience for Ciel. Not only that, it was a great massage. Ciel found himself wondering if he was certified. 

They had even done it in the backyard when the weather got warmer. Lau got the public sex he wanted, and Ciel had to admit that the view of the stars was nice.

Sometimes, they also just cuddled. There were the quiet moments in bed where they told each other their lives and secrets, and felt each other's heartbeat.

Ciel barely spent any time in his room anymore. This was fine and really made no difference to anything. However, he also hardly spent any time with his friends. Lizzy and Soma were starting to notice, and didn't know what to do.

"It's not fair, we used all hang out together and now he's just ditching us! Who does he think he is?!" Some exclaimed dramatically, throwing himself onto Lizzy's bubblegum pink comforter.

"He's just so busy being in love. I hate this, you know. It always happens. People fall in love and then they don't need their friends anymore. They just toss them to the side. It would be nice if he was different, but I guess not." She ranted from the doorway.

"Maybe I should bring him some curry. We could bond over it."

"Soma, not everything is solved by curry!"

"Give me one example of something that couldn't be solved by it!"

Lizzy sighed. "It's fine. Anyways, I'm probably overreacting. He's just busy, he'll hang out with us soon."

Soma accepted her answer, but she felt like she was lying to herself. Lately, she seemed to be losing all of her friends. It always seemed to be because of them falling in love too, whether with her or someone else. There was nothing she could do to change that. "Love is dumb." She muttered.

Soma noticed that she didn't seem herself. He went over and hugged her. "I love you, are you saying I'm dumb?"

"Of course not." She answered, smiling a bit. "I meant romantic love. It's dumb and it ruins everything."

"Nothing a little curry can't fix though." 

Time flew for Alois too. He was working regularly, and despite the fact that it was not the most high class profession, he was proud of himself. He had also saved up a decent amount of money. Right now, Claude was paying for his rent and food, but it was good to have backup.

In the time he wasn't working, he kept his marks up in school and sometimes practiced the piano at Hannah's. He also cooked meals. He noticed that he didn't see much of Claude, and he quickly figured out why.

He wasn't doing out of his way to spend time with him anymore, which made something apparent. Claude didn't make any effort whatsoever to spend time with him.

Still, he didn't want to lose Claude. Desperately, he clung to the hope that the man really did care about him. Even if all the evidence pointed to the contrary.

As he boiled pasta in their kitchen, his phone rang. When he answered, it was his lawyer on the line.

"I'm afraid I have bad news about the will, Mr. Trancy."

***

Hannah looked mildly concerned when he showed up at her door, unannounced, with a bowl of pasta. However, she let him in without question. 

"What's wrong?" She asked. "And why do you have pasta?"

He shrugged. "It's my dinner, I'm hungry. What makes you think something's wrong?"

"You show up unannounced, looking like you're at a funeral, and holding your dinner."

"Maybe I just wanted to talk."

She raised her eyebrows. Alois sighed and gave in. "Fine, so like my lawyer called and said a bunch of stuff that I didn't understand but the gist of it is that my foster father changed his will at the last minute so I'm not getting anything which honestly wouldn't bother me but I'm scared that Claude will leave me when I tell him." He paused to breathe after the long sentence.

"Do you want me to be there when you tell him?" She asked worriedly.

"No, it's okay. I have to do this myself. But thank you, really. It means a lot." He paused. "I still don't like you though.

She smiled, but still looked worried. "Just take care of yourself, okay?"

He rolled his eyes. "Obviously, I'm not an idiot-"

Hannah interrupted him with a pat on the shoulder. "I'll make some tea, okay? Eat your pasta."

Later, he thought about how far he had come in the past few months. Before, he would have been filled with dread. Now though, he was worried, but he knew he could handle whatever came. He could support himself and survive on his own. He had Hannah's help too. He was just worried because if things went downhill, it would still hurt. No matter how under control his life was.

Because of this, it took him a week of procrastination to tell Claude the news. They saw so little of each other now that this wasn't hard. Finally, he made himself a promise that this would be the night he told him, for better or for worse. A week from when he first got the news, he sat at the table and steeled himself as the door opened. This was it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, love you all. I guess this is getting closer and closer to the end. I hope you've liked it so far, and I hope you'll like the rest. Feel free to give comments or kudos, they always make my day.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things come to a head between Alois and Claude, and Ciel and Lau have to face reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next two chapters are in beta'd and I'm terrible at proofreading so I'm really sorry if there are mistakes. Also, this chapter involves more explicit abuse than previous other chapters. It's only in the first scene, so let me know if you want a summary of what happened because you're uncomfortable reading it.
> 
> Update: forgot to mention, the song they're listening to in this chapter is called hope that I don't fall in love with you by Tom waits because I'm cheesy af.

Claude hung up his coat and sat down across from Alois. He seemed oblivious to his stare as he chewed a forkful of baked potato. However, eventually he noticed that Alois wasn't even touching his food. He looked up.

"Do you want something?" He asked sceptically.

"Yes." Alois answered, tone firm. Claude seemed to notice how serious he was acting. He sat up a bit straighter.

"And?" He asked.

He twisted the edge of the tablecloth, heart pounding. "My lawyer called last week." 

"And you're just telling me now?! How many times have I told you to tell me as soon as you get news about the will?! Why would you wait this long?!" Claude yelled, standing up.

"I'm sorry! I was just scared how you'd take the news, okay?"

Claude's eyes narrowed. "Just what news was it? Tell me. Now."

Hands clenched, Alois admitted the truth. "I'm not getting anything. Apparently he changed the will at the last minute. I'm sorry, I know you wanted us to be millionaires and do all the stuff you talked about-"

"You're not getting anything."

As he always did under pressure, he started to cry. This obviously wasn't going to go well. He had hoped and prayed that Claude really loved him, but his dreams were all crashing around his feet. "No. I'm not. Really, I'm sorry-"

He was cut off. "Shut up, for once in your goddamned life! You're so annoying! I spent all this time and money on you and this is how you repay me! You ungrateful!"

He punctuated the word by punching Alois in the face.

"Useless!"

Another punch.

"Waste-"

With a yell of rage, Alois grabbed a heavy pottery mug and smashed it over Claude's head before things could go any further. 

He started to hyperventilate. Nervously, he checked his pulse. He was still alive. That was good. He didn't really want a murder on his hands.

However, now he needed to figure out his next step. He needed to say some last words to him, but he couldn't let him hurt him again. After pacing for a few minutes, he decided duct taping him to the chair was the best option. It wasn't like he had a lot of time to plan. 

Dragging Claude's unconscious body to one of the kitchen chairs, he struggled to get him in position. Once that was done, he walked briskly to the cupboard to get the tape.

By the time he started to stir, Alois felt sure that he was securely taped in.

"Wha-" Claude started to say groggily.

Alois slapped him awake. "No, don't say anything. You've said quite enough, thank you very much. It's my turn."

He took a deep breath. "You know exactly what my foster father did to me. That man used and abused me. You saved me from that, so I was blind to you. But no matter how blind I am, I will never. I repeat, never. Let someone hurt me like that again. I don't care what I've done, or who they are, or what they've done for me. I deserve better than someone who would hurt me. So I'm leaving, and if you come near me, I'll call the police. I'll get a restraining order. I'll do what I have to do. But I will never let anyone hit me again."

Grabbing the bag he had packed while Claude was unconscious, he walked to the door. As he opened it, Claude called out. "How will you survive without me? You need me, you'll be back in a day, crying on my doorstep."

"No. I won't. You'll see." Alois said with one last glare before he slammed the door. 

As he walked away, he heard Claude's muffled cry of "How do I get out of this tape?!". He grinned evilly. Someone would come by and help him out eventually, but for now he'd have a few uncomfortable hours.

Not knowing where else to go, he walked to Hannah's apartment. When she opened the door, he lost all his previous adrenaline. He fell into her arms, sobbing.

"Shh. It's okay. Come on in, I'll make some soup." She cooed.

After she settled him on the couch, she noticed the red marks on his face, already starting to bruise. She pursed her lips but didn't say anything. She went to the freezer and got an ice pack before coming back.

"I see you brought your bag. Does that mean you've left for good?" She asked gently. Through his tears, he nodded.

"Do you want to sleep on my couch? You'll need to get your own apartment, but you can crash here for the night."

He nodded again. With that, she went and got him a blanket and pillow. She also served the now hot soup. It wasn't the time for her to pry about what happened. As long as he was safe and away from that man. There would be some recovery needed, and he'd need to talk about it, but for now that was enough. 

He was a fully grown adult, but despite that, he didn't object when she read him a story as he fell asleep. The last thing he heard before he passed out was her soothing voice telling him about a swallow and a statue. He never heard the end of the story, but he didn't mind. He got the feeling it wasn't a happy one anyways.

***

"So what song do you want to play?" Ciel asked. Lau and Ran Mao had pulled out the speakers but had yet to decide what they'd listen to.

"Fergalicious?"

He tried again. "What other songs do you want to play?" 

"Hotline bling?"

Ciel sighed. "Okay, Ran Mao's choosing the music."

With a whine of protest, Lau passed his laptop to her. "Stop complaining, it's not my fault your taste in music is ridiculous." Ciel said from the couch.

"I'm honestly offended."

They continued bickering as Ran Mao looked into the perfect song. Deciding to do Lau a favour, she narrowed it down to the romance genre. 

When the music started playing, Ciel raised his eyebrows. "Didn't peg you two as the Tom Waits type."

"There's a lot that you don't know about us." Lau teased.

"Such as?"

"Maybe one day I'll tell you." He winked. "For now though? How 'bout a dance, Sky boy?"

Ciel glared. "As if. I don't dance, you know that." 

However, Lau ignored his protest and pulled him off the couch. "Come on, it's just a slow dance. I'm sure you're as terrible at dancing as you say, but this requires no talent. I'll even guide you."

"No, no I'm really fine-"

He shushed him. "Here, just put your arms around my neck, and I hold your waist. Like this." As he did so, Ciel grudgingly obliged. 

"Happy?"

"Very."

Now in position, they swayed to the music. Lau had been right, it required no talent whatsoever. Ciel was even beginning to enjoy it. He liked the song, and it was nice being in Lau's arms like this. It did things to his heart. Before, it had just been butterflies. Now though, it was the oddest ache. Like it was too full with emotions that he couldn't name or even fully understand.

"What are you thinking about?" Lau asked, pulling him closer against his chest. 

Ciel let his head rest on his shoulder as they continued to sway. "Nothing. Everything." Normally he would never say these things out loud, but something about the music and the closeness made him speak his mind. He continued. "Why do I feel like this with you?"

"Like what?" Lau asked softly.

"Like I'm so happy it hurts. It's so good, but it's too much for one person. I can't contain it."

"Then I'll help you." Lau leaned back a bit so he could look into his eyes. "Blue. Like the sky. It suits your name." He said absentmindedly. 

Ciel leaned up to kiss him gently. It seemed different this time. They both seemed so fragile. 

Later, when they made it to bed, it was more than sex. Ciel understood why people called it making love. As Lau slid into him slowly, he sighed and whimpered in the older man's ear. With each movement, their breaths hitched. It was impossible to tell who was making which noise. It all blended together.

Ciel's hands tangled in the bedsheets, but soon that wasn't enough. He had to touch. He ran his hands through Lau's close cropped hair. He gripped his arms and felt the straining muscles. He cupped his face, noticing the fine sheen of sweat. All the while, Lau gazed at him in wonder. 

As they neared the end, Lau's movements quickened. Ciel squeezed his eyes shut, whimpering his name.

"Open them." Lau whispered urgently.

Ciel did as Lau asked, and couldn't stop the words that slipped past his lips at Lau's gaze.

"I love you."

With a broken cry, Lau gave a final thrust and came inside him, lowering his head to rest on Ciel's neck. The final move had been enough to tip Ciel over the edge too, so he shortly followed. 

Lau continued to lie on top of him, breathing heavily. Ciel ran his fingers through his hair again. 

"Are you okay?"

"I love you."

"Is that a yes I'm okay, or a no I'm not okay?" Ciel asked. Lau laughed softly. He was so close, Ciel felt it.

"I'm not sure actually. I love you. God, I love you. What do we do?"

Ciel wanted to stay there forever, in their perfect bubble of happiness. However, the real world was knocking and it can't be ignored.

"I'm assuming you mean what do we do about the fact that this is illegal, you're my professor, and we can't have a normal functional relationship in this situation." 

"Yes. What do we do?"

"Elope?"

"Tempting. Imagine, you and me. A beach in Hawaii. You, wearing booty shorts like that blonde kid. Me, applying your sunscreen. Wait, can sunscreen be used as lube?"

Ciel grinned and shoved Lau off. They laughed for a moment at the daydream before they came back to the sobering reality.

"We have to end it, don't we?" Ciel asked.

"I'll wait for you, you know. When you're done school, I'll be here. I don't want anyone else." Lau answered. 

"Thank you. I'll be back, I promise. Someday, we can have that Hawaii trip. Or whatever else you want." Ciel was starting to get chocked up and he hated it. "I guess I should go."

"I guess."

Ciel put his clothes on slowly, not wanting to leave. Lau watched, memorizing every feature. Before he left, Ciel kissed Lau again. He didn't want to stop, but eventually he had to. 

"I'll see you around, I guess." He said as he left. A minute later, Lau was still staring at the doorway. "I'll see you around." He whispered to the empty air.

***

Lizzy was surprised when she heard the knock on her door. Except for Soma, she hadn't had many visitors lately. When she saw Ciel standing there her initial reaction was to give him the cold shoulder, but then she saw the look in his eyes and her frustration melted away.

"Come on in. What happened?" She asked, stepping aside. 

"Why do you think something happened?"

She smiled. "You look like you just lost your firstborn child. Don't pretend nothing happened. I know you better than that."

He smiled back, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. He gave up and told her what had happened. She listened sympathetically, and at the end she gave him a hug. "So what are you going to do now?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I just, everything's better with him, you know? I had so much anger. About what happened to my parents. About what happened to their killer. About Sebastian. About my future. About everything. With him, it was gone. For the first time I wasn't angry." He looked more dejected than she had seen him in years. "I'm just going to miss him. Even if I see him every day in class, I'm going to miss him." His voice cracked a bit.

"I know. Hey, you can stay here for now anyways. Some company might help. I'll call Soma over, we can watch a movie." She suggested.

As she called Soma, she felt some guilt over how angry she had been. Ciel wouldn't have left her forever, he just needed some time with Lau. Whatever they had, it seemed to be real. It wasn't her place to interfere, and she just wanted Ciel to be happy. 

As they watched The Fellowship of the Ring, she realized that she wasn't even that happy to have Ciel back. She had missed him, but she didn't want him to herself if it meant he was sad. She cared about him too much for that.

***

"Don't hit the keys so hard." Hannah suggested. "Even the lightest touch will make music."

Alois nodded, before continuing to pound the keys. "Be gentle. The piano is your friend." She tried again.

Much to her relief, his phone rang, distracting him from venting his frustrations on the instrument.

"Is this Mr. Trancy?" A mysterious voice asked.

"Who's asking?" He answered sharply. Hannah raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"My name is Sebastian Phantomhive. I'm offering you a job, if you'd like to take it."

Hardly believing his good luck, Alois listened as Sebastian filled him in on the details. This could be his future.

"Of course, I'll come in as soon as possible for an interview." He said near the end. 

"Can you come in on the twenty fifth?" Sebastian asked.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be there." He confirmed.

"Just ask for me at the front desk."

"Okay. I'll see you then."

After the call ended, he turned to Hannah. "Sebastian Phantomhive called. He runs a business, and he's giving me an interview. It'll only be part time until I finish school, and is stretching some rules, but he's giving me an interview. He's giving me a chance." He could barely contain his hope and excitement.

The smile she gave him was filled with genuine love. "Of course he is. He'd be a fool not to. Now we just need to find you a place to live and you'll be set. See? You can survive on your own. I told you so." 

Alois flung his arms around her. As they hugged, he whispered to her. "Do you think my family would have been proud? Would Luka have been proud?"

She patted his hair. "I know they would be. Especially Luka."

"I'm glad."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! There's going to be two more chapters in this thing, so we're almost done. Thank you for all your support, I love you all.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everything is worked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd again, let's hope it ain't too bad. Thank you for supporting my mediocre content, it makes my day.

"Ciel, I swear to god if you don't fix this and stop moping I'll buy you a cat!" Lizzy exclaimed, slamming the door.

"I'll drown it."

"Okay, ignoring that you're threatening to kill an innocent animal, I mean it. This isn't working, you need to do something."

By that she meant that he had spent the past two weeks speaking in monotone, dragging his feet, and exchanging sad looks with Lau throughout his philosophy class. It was getting ridiculous, and putting everyone on edge. 

"What am I supposed to do?" He whined. 

"Find a way to be with him. It's obvious this isn't just a fling. It means everything to both of you, so do everything to keep it."

"Like what?"

"God, you're an idiot sometimes." She muttered. Ciel perked up. "Excuse me?" He asked. Irritation was better than the monotone, she decided. 

"You can't be together because he's your teacher and it's illegal?" She confirmed.

"Yes,you already know-"

"Then don't have him as your teacher!" She exclaimed. "You don't even want to be at this school anyways! This should be an obvious solution to both of you!"

He looked at her in shock at her outburst. "What?"

She sighed, and flopped down on her bed. "Go. Figure out what you want to do with your life. Do what you gotta do. Let me know when you've done that and stopped moping around."

He stood up awkwardly. "Erm. Okay? I'll just do that then..." He said, backing away to the door. 

"You do that. Honestly, I don't know what you'd do without me." She muttered as he left.

It was now fully spring in the campus, and people were hanging around outside. They were playing games, laughing, eating their lunches. Ciel barely noticed them, as he was completely occupied with his thoughts.

If he had looked, he might have seen Alois playing a makeshift game of soccer with professor annafellows. At one point he slipped in a patch of mud. When Hannah giggled, he threw a handful of it at her. An all out war ensued. If Ciel had been looking, he might have noticed how carefree and happy Alois seemed.

He also might have seen Finny tending to the gardens. The school let him do it as volunteer work since he loved it so much.

He might have seen professor Spears being dragged to who knows where by professor Sutcliff. He had a look of irritation on his face but he wasn't actually fighting back. That said more than anything else.

As it was, he didn't see any of this. However, by the time he got to his room, he knew what he was going to do. It all came down to making choices based on what he loved, not what he was supposed to do. And so those were the choices he was going to make from now on.

***

Lizzy had to admit that she was being a bit of a hypocrite. She was giving all this advice, but she still hadn't fixed her own problems.

She still wasn't talking to Mey Rin, Baldroy, or Finny. She was still mad at herself for being so heartless and she still felt like something was wrong with her. She didn't know what to do.

She was just starting to feel desperately lonely as she sipped her coffee in the Noah's Arc Café. Then, in a whirl of excitement and cheer, Molly showed up. 

"Why do you always look so down when I find you here? What's buggin' you this time? C'mon, you can tell me about it." She said with a smile, as usual.

"It's nothing, honestly I'm just tired-"

Molly shushed her. "Don't try that one on me. It's okay, you can tell me about it. Sometimes sayin' things out loud make them hurt less, you know?"

Lizzy sighed. She did consider Molly a friend, and last time she confided in her it had made things a bit better. After some thought, she gave in.

"I guess there's a lot on my mind, like the thing with Mey Rin and her friends. I told you about that, right?" Molly nodded.

"Anyways there's that. But that's not what really bothers me. It's that that isn't the first time. I've tried with so many people, but it never works. I just can't feel it. And people are always like 'don't worry, you'll find the one', but I know I won't. I can tell, you know? Ciel knows he won't fall in love with a girl. I know I won't fall in love with anyone. I just hate it, I don't want it to be true. Because if it's true, then I'll never get my adorable wedding. My picture perfect happy ending. All my friends will leave as they have families. I'll only see them on holidays, and I'll be alone. Because-"

Her eyes started to water. "Because there's something wrong with me and I just can't seem to fix it."

"Dude, you've got it bad. C'mon, give me a hug." Molly said, reaching over. After they hugged, she continued. "You know you're probably just aromantic right? There's nothing wrong with you, lots of people are."

Lizzy wiped her tears. "What? What's that?"

"It's like, you don't feel romantic attraction. You can also be asexual which is for sexual attraction. It's perfectly normal. You didn't know this?" She asked. 

"No, I didn't. Wait, so you mean there are other people like this?" 

Molly laughed. "Of course! I have a few friends who are. And they struggled with it too, but they've accepted it and now they're really happy! And you will be too."

She smiled nervously. "Could you introduce me to them someday?" 

"Of course. I'll ask when they're free. And you said that everyone's going to leave you, just wanted to address that. The idea of your friends abandoning you? Ciel? Soma? It's ridiculous. They love you. They're your family. That can be your happily ever after. Now I'm going to get a muffin, be back soon." She said, getting up at the end. 

For the first time in a while, Lizzy felt normal.

That night, she spent hours on the Internet learning about herself. She saw other people like her, supporting each other and proud of themselves. She starting to feel proud of herself, too.

*** 

"He's giving me the job!" Alois yelled as he walked in the door. 

"I told you wearing pants would help." Hannah commented. "Congratulations. Really. I'm proud."

He gave her a brief hug. "I'll be starting in one month. I should probably give my notice to the convenience store."

"Might as well. They can always give you a reference if you stay on their good side. So, do you want to check out that apartment from the ad or are you too tired?"

He sighed dramatically. "I'm very tired, but I suppose I could manage it. I'll steel myself, and be strong."

She only smiled in response to his antics. "Let's go then. We can take the bus."

They had been looking at online ads for a while, but this was the first that had seemed worth checking out. It was a small bachelor apartment, but it was in a decent area, had all the appliances, and was cheap enough for him to afford while going to school. The landlord lived in the same building, and said they could come by any time.

They knocked on the landlord's door. A frazzled looking man, about forty years old, opened it. "Who are you?" He asked.

"This is Mr. Trancy. He's here to see the apartment for rent." Hannah said.

"Right, of course. Come this way."

He led them to the second floor of what was an old brick building. When he let them in, Alois took in the place. 

It didn't look like much, but it was empty. That would change soon. Hannah was lending him some spare furniture, and he'd use his savings to buy the rest. 

What was important was that it was light and bright, with big windows. It had running water and working lights. No cockroaches or rats were spotted. There was a little kitchen with a spacious counter. All of it could be his. He could have a home.

It wasn't long before he had made his decision. He took the paperwork home to fill out. He'd move in a week.

***

In a repeat of many events over the past year, Ciel found himself knocking on Lau's door.

In yet another repeat, Ran Mao was the one that opened the door. She seemed surprised to see him, but stepped back to let him in. 

"Where is he?" He asked her. She pointed to the study. He gave the door a brief knock before entering.

Lau was looking at something on the bookshelf, so he didn't see who was coming in the door.

"Hey,Ran Mao-" Lau started to say as he turned around. However, when he noticed who it was he went silent. 

"What do you want?" He asked, faking a neutral tone.

Deciding to be cheesy, Ciel said "you", and then immediately cringed at himself. When Lau raised an eyebrow, he quickly continued.

"So Lizzy told me that this is stupid because I don't even want to be at this school anyways, so that got me thinking. I realized that I want you in my life, and I want to do something I enjoy with my life."

"You don't enjoy anything though." Lau teased, breaking the mood.

"Shut up. Anyways I got to thinking. What do I enjoy? And then I remembered, the lessons and the competition. I enjoyed spending time with you, but that's not all. I enjoyed the baking itself. So, long story short, I've applied for the same college as Molly goes to. I'm starting next fall. It's near enough for me to see you regularly. And now it's legal and socially acceptable for you to fuck my brains out." He took a deep breath after his speech. 

Lau looked at him in shock for a moment, before he started to grin. "A tempting offer. Well-" he started to back Ciel against the desk. "-how can I refuse?" 

Ciel put a hand against his chest to stop him. "Wait. Not that I'm not extremely interested in this, but I want to clear some things up."

"Like?"

"What are we going to be? Is this serious? I want it to be, but it's up to you. What does all this mean to you?"

Lau kissed his forehead, to which Ciel made a face. "It means everything to me." He whispered.

"So this is serious?"

"Always. I love you."

"Love you too." Ciel muttered before pulling him into a kiss. A thought crossed his mind. This wasn't a first or last kiss. It was one of many. And they were all going to be wonderful, even if there were a thousand a day. He'd never get tired of kissing Lau.

"You're thinking too much." Lau said as he reached down and took him in hand. After that, Ciel didn't think much at all until they were done.

Afterwards, they went out to wander the little shops just off campus. Lau, always an impulse buyer, bought Ciel a cactus because as he said, "It's just like you. Prickly and likely to stab you if you poke it."

Later, in revenge for that comment, he bought Lau a flower, saying "It's just like you. Useless."

Lau, of course, only grinned at the insult. He was dating Ciel Phantomhive. He might as well get used to it.

*** 

When Lizzy barged into his room, he held up his hands in surrender. "I talked to him, I worked things out, I'm switching schools! Don't attack!" He joked.

With a squeal, Lizzy ran over and hugged him. "Man, it'll be strange not having you at the same school as me."

Before she could continue, Soma wandered in too. "You better visit." He threatened.

"I will, I will."

"Or else!" Lizzy added.

"I said I will!"

After they made tea, she spoke up again. "I'm really happy for you. I'm going to miss seeing you everyday, but I know you're going to be happy. And, well, I trust that you're going to visit. You're family, you know."

"Of course I will. You never have to worry about that." He agreed.

"I actually have something to tell you." She said nervously. Soma immediately started paying attention. "Are you telling me too?"

Lizzy laughed. "Yeah, I'm telling both of you. Basically, I recently figured out that I'm aro ace."

"What's that?" Soma asked.

As she explained it to them, they nodded and smiled supportively. At the end, Ciel commented that he was glad she was happy, like him. Soma agreed, before he went to grab some Oreos. 

Lizzy was so glad she had friends like this, because it was moments like this that she was happiest.

***

Lizzy still had one more thing to do. She steeled herself as she knocked on Mey Rin's door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Came the yell from inside. 

When she opened the door, she looked at Lizzy with suspicion. It has been ages since they had talked. "What is it?" She finally asked, pushing up her glasses.

"I came to talk. Can I come in?" Lizzy asked. Mey Rin shrugged and let her in.

The room was cozy, with a big lumpy sofa covered in throw pillows and blankets. Lizzy sat down at the end of it. 

"So what do you want to talk about?" Mey Rin asked.

Lizzy took a deep breath. "I wanted to say I'm sorry. I treated you pretty badly, I guess. I really didn't mean to hurt you though. I've recently figured out that I'm aro ace, but I think I knew it for a long time. I didn't want to know it though. I didn't want it to be true. So I thought that maybe if I dated you, it wouldn't be true. But I can't change who I am, no matter how much I like you as a friend. So that's why I did what I did. I know it was wrong, and I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to hurt you, as hard to believe as that may be. I'll understand if you can't forgive me."

Mey Rin gave her a nervous pat on the shoulder. "It's okay, I'm not mad. I understand why you did what you did. I was mad at the time, but it's okay now. Oh, man. I don't want you to be sad. Of course I forgive you. C'mon, I'm planning to meet up with Baldroy and Finny. You can come, I know they've missed you."

Together, they went to meet their friends at the café. There was some initial awkwardness, but soon it was just like old times. Lizzy was glad. The old times were nice, and this was too.

***

"Well, I think that's everything." Hannah said, setting down the last piece of furniture. Alois looked around the room, eyes sparkling.

"It's wonderful. Thank you. For everything, really. I couldn't have done all this without you." He said, tearing up a bit.

"Of course you could have. This was all you. You don't ever need anyone to save you, you can do it all yourself." She answered, ruffling his hair.

"Can I still visit you? Even though I have my own place now?" He sounded worried.

"Of course. You're always welcome at my place. So, are you going to see the councillor I recommended? He's a good friend, I promise that you can trust him if you need to talk about things. Talking about them might help."

He shrugged. "Probably, at least once. I can't promise that I'll keep going, but I'll try, okay?"

She smiled. "Okay." 

She started to leave, but then stopped suddenly, remembering something.

"Almost forgot. I brought you a housewarming present. I've had it around for ages, I think it should be yours." She pulled a small package out of her purse before leaving. 

He made a cup of peppermint tea before sitting down on his new couch and unwrapping the brown paper. Inside was a photograph, in a plain wood frame. 

It showed three kids, looking like they didn't have a care in the world. The oldest was a girl in her late teens. She had lavender hair and dressed like the embodiment of teenage rebellion. On one side of her was a kid with reddish brown hair and a huge smile. On the other side, there was a boy about half between the ages of the other two. His hair was light blond and shaggy, but otherwise he bore a striking resemblance to the smiling kid. This blonde boy looked happy too. 

As he looked at the photo, he remembered the day it was taken. The three of them had played frisbee and eaten a picnic in the park. Near the end of the day, Luka had cried because he was having so much fun he didn't want to go home and have the day end. Hannah, always having a soft spot for the kid, had brought out her camera. 

"If you take a picture of it, the moments never gone. You can keep it with you forever." She had said. Alois, slightly cynical even at that age, had laughed. Luka, still young and full of wonder, had clapped his hands and cheered right up. Looking at his brother like that, Alois had felt an incredible happiness. That moment had been one of the best of his life.

Hannah had stuck a note to the back of the frame. It read "It's good to remember these things, but don't be afraid to move on either. There'll be days like this again."

He smiled. For the first time, he thought that maybe he could believe that. There would be good days for him. There would be a future for him. But he didn't want to forget, either. He set the photo on his bedside table, close to him and his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There'll be an epilogue in a few days. Hope you'll like it! Thank you for all your kind comments, I love them all.


	22. Epilogue (or, a year and seven months later)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone lives happily ever after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOO I FINISHED THIS THING!! This is the first chaptered fic I've written, so I'm really proud. I hope y'all liked it. Thank you so much for sticking with me to the end. Thank you for your kind comments and kudos. Love you all!

"I'm sorry I'm late, I had class-" Ciel exclaimed, stumbling in the door.

Lau's house looked positively festive for his mixed holiday party. The decor was mainly traditional Christmas themed, but there were touches of other cultures, courtesy of Soma, Ran Mao, and Lau.

"We all have class, stop making excuses." Lizzy teased. 

"Yeah, I bet you're just avoiding us. I might die of a broken heart." Whined Lau from the background.

"Shut up, Lau." He said affectionately. "Lizzy, my school is an hour away by bus. Cut me some slack!"

She rolled her eyes, before grinning. "C'mon in the kitchen! There's snacks, plus me and Soma want to talk to you about something."

He sent a questioning look towards Lau. Apparently he didn't know what this was about either. Clearly curious though, he followed them to the kitchen.

As they walked through the house, they passed by Grell hanging on to Will's arm. "I don't see why we have to be so public about it." He was overheard muttering. 

"Why shouldn't we be? We're cute together. Come on, let's find some mistletoe, there's gotta be some around here!" They answered, dragging him off. Ronald was spotted snickering in the background.

They found Soma eating curry flavoured chips. When he saw Ciel, he jumped up excitedly. 

"Are we going to tell him the plan?" He asked Lizzy.

"Why do you guys always have plans?" Ciel muttered. Everyone ignored him.

Lizzy turned to him, excited. "We're all graduating this year, so me and Soma were thinking about what we'd do with our lives. And we thought, hey, wouldn't it be great if us three could work together? So we came up with an idea! We can open a little Café! Soma and I can run the business side of things, you can do the baking! We could even hire Finny, Mey Rin, and Baldroy to be staff! They already agreed to it, I asked them. They're looking for part time jobs anyways."

In the time since their first year at the university, Lizzy's friendship with those three had only grown stronger. They had quickly worked past their issues to become a close group of friends. Not as close as she was with Ciel and Soma, but never the less. It was good.

Out of no where, Alois appeared. "I know I'm not the king of advice or anything, but you should do it. It's what you need."

Alois had never become best friends with Ciel, but they were in no way enemies anymore. Because of his close work with Sebastian, he ended up at a lot of family gatherings. What he had with Ciel was a casual, social friendship. That was okay, though. They knew they had each other's backs if they needed it.

Besides, Alois had several friends now. Through work, and toning down his attitude, he had become quite close with a group of people. He also had a therapist he talked to sometimes. The sessions weren't half bad, actually. At the end of the day though, if he really needed someone to talk to, he still came to Hannah. Her life had changed in the time that had passed. She had moved twice and married her girlfriend. The one thing that never changed though, was how welcome Alois was in her home.

"You don't need to tell me that." Ciel answered, laughing. He turned to Lizzy and Soma. Of course I want to join this. It sounds great. Do you have any ideas for a name yet?"

They both hugged him, squealing. They never seemed to be able to be quietly happy. He didn't really mind that much though, if he was honest with himself.

"Not really. We were wondering if you had any ideas?"

Ciel thought for a moment. "How about 'The earl and butler café'? We can serve earl grey tea, and well, we're serving them food. Like a butler. Get it?"

"Clever." Lau commented. It was hard to tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"I love it!" Lizzy exclaimed. Just then, Finny arrived with his dog and his friends. This included his new friend who seemed to have a snake on him at all times. From Ciel's interactions with him, he thought he was rather sweet, if a bit odd.

Lizzy ran off to greet them all, and Soma followed. Ciel was left alone with Lau. 

"Looks like you've got your future all lined up." Lau commented, leaning against the counter. 

Ciel laughed a bit. "I guess so."

"So, question. Completely hypothetical, you know. Like, on the subject of future planning." Lau started.

"Yes?" Ciel asked.

"Well. I was wondering, what are your thoughts on marriage? Like, completely hypothetical. Like, two people think each other are really cool, and are really compatible in bed. They get all the tax benefits. They live together so they don't have to go an hour on the bus to see each other. Things are simpler for them, you know? What are your thoughts on that?"

Ciel raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"Think fast!" Lau yelled and threw something at him. 

"What the-" Ciel started to say, picking the foreign object up off the floor. Upon closer observation, he saw it was a ring. 

He looked at it for a moment in shock. Grinning, he looked up. "Is this your weird, Lau-ish way of proposing?"

"Possibly."

"You know, most people just get down on one knee."

"I get on my knees enough for you."

"I haven't heard you complain before."

"So is it a yes?" Lau asked, interrupting their banter.

"Hmm, it is a nice ring, but a lifetime with you? Geez, I'm not sure." He said, smirking. Lau playfully punched him in the arm. "Come on, is it a yes?"

"Obviously, you idiot. Why would I say anything else?" Ciel said, laughing. He only had time to slip on the ring before Lau pulled him into a kiss. 

Ciel smiled against his lips. He was going to do a job he liked, alongside his friends. He was going to marry the love of his life. It was too good to be true, and yet there it was. It was true.

"By the way-" Ciel said as they broke apart. "-you never told me how you met Ran Mao."

"Oh, that. Yeah, we were roommates in college. After that, we were too lazy to start living on our own." He answered nonchalantly.

Ciel choked. "You've been implying it's this big dramatic story for over two years! That's all it was?!"

He shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much."

"I swear to god-"

Whatever he was going to swear was interrupted by Lizzy screaming "Is that a ring?!" from across the room. He was rather impressed by her eyesight. 

The news spread fast, and soon all their friends were congratulating them. 

Later, Baldroy was spotted singing along to Mariah Carrey again. It seemed to be his Christmas favourite.

Finny and Snake were seen chatting in a corner.

Grell and William were seen exchanging a brief and chaste kiss, as much as Will seemed willing to do in public so far.

Mey Rin and Lizzy were seen giggling over Finny's dog in various outfits.

Alois was seen showing off his dance moves as Hannah laughed and gave a thumbs up from the sidelines.

Soma was seen drawing an elephant.

Claude was no where to be seen, and everyone was perfectly fine with that.

There were two others missing. The couple of the hour themselves. However, if one looked hard enough, they could find them in the backyard pelting each other with snowballs. In the occasional moment of truce, there were stolen kisses too. 

However, no one tried too hard to find them. Everyone knew that wherever they were, they were happy. This moment was theirs alone.

There would be plenty of time to spend together, as a group, in the future. There were plenty of good times coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this!! Feel free to leave comments, I love reading them. I'll probably start a new fic soon so keep posted if you want. Thanks for everything.


End file.
